Geothermal Heating Solutions To Make the Most of Your Home Energy Source
When you make the choice to purchase a heating system for your home, your first instinct may be to go with a traditional method such as a furnace or a gas fireplace.
But what you may not know – what many homeowners don’t know – is this: geothermal heating solutions offer equally effective ways to stay warm throughout the winter while also offering increased efficiency, reduced costs, and several other benefits that make them an attractive option for keeping out of the cold.
Benefits of Geothermal Heating
Systems
- Geothermal heating provides you with the option of making the most of an energy source you already own, such as your land or water. Because this is a more renewable and efficient source of heating your home, it helps you save energy. Take a look at some other advantages:
- Save Money: Compared to the costs of gas, oil, propane and electric furnaces, geothermal heating is actually a less expensive option, and offers reduced operating costs. It also helps you save money on home insurance rates
- Customization: Temperature control is available in winter, summer, and all year round for hot water usage in the home
- Better For the Environment: Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by more than two-thirds when using a geothermal solution
- Odourless: There are no odours released with this type of a heating system, making them more ideal for highly-insulated buildings and individuals with allergies or sensitivities to noxious gases and poor air quality
- Protection: Since the equipment is inside the building, there is much less risk of negative effects from nature, accidents or vandalism, allowing it to have a much longer life
- Safety: These systems are non-flammable and have no need to store fuel
A Brief Overview Of Geothermal Heat Pumps
Over the last decade or so, there has been a widespread movement toward more sustainable and renewable methods of doing just about everything. Whether it is the production of electricity or the heating and cooling of homes, people are waking up to the benefits of non-fossil fuel-based solutions. For some, it is an environmental matter, for others, it is an issue of cost. Mounting energy prices have caused many to reconsider less traditional options.
Geothermal heat pumps have been around for well over 50 years, but for much of that time, they have failed to capture the interest of the average person because there simply weren’t compelling reasons to look beyond the more traditional methods of heating and cooling their homes and businesses. Times have clearly changed. Now, it would seem, it is time to take a second look at geothermal heating pumps.
What Are Geothermal Heat Pump?
To put it simply, geothermal heat pumps are a system of pipes laid out under the ground at a level that allows them to take advantage of the constant temperatures of the ground below a certain depth. These pipes contain a medium, usually water or a mixture of anti-freeze and water, that takes on the constant temperature of the ground and is then pumped into a distribution system within the home and dispersed through the house to either heat or cool it.
How Do Geothermal Pumps Work?
During the winter months, the air above ground is naturally much colder than the temperature below ground and vice versa in the summer. When a liquid medium is circulated through a series of pipes below ground, it takes on the temperature surrounding it.
This medium is then pumped indoors to a heat exchange unit where the pipes pass through a bath of refrigerant that begins to boil into steam, after which it is concentrated in a compression chamber. Compressing this heated air causes its temperature to rise further.
After this air has reached the desired temperature, it is then pumped into a second thermal exchange chamber where it can then be distributed throughout the home to heat the air or even provide for the household’s hot water needs.
As the air is cooled, it turns back into a liquid which is then pumped back into the underground system to go through the whole cycle again. The result is fairly incredible; For each kilowatt of energy used by the system, 4 kilowatts of energy are produced, effectively quartering the cost per kilowatt-hour!
It should be noted that this same process is equally efficient for cooling a home during the summer months using the same process and equipment.
How Do Geothermal Heat Pumps Save Money?
The savings provided by geothermal pumps all boil down to three things, efficiency, low maintenance costs, and low operational costs. Each of these factors bears closer examination:
- Efficiency & Operational Costs: Traditional air-based heating and cooling systems rely on the unit’s ability to heat or cool air. That’s obvious. The problem with this is that the air is never at a stable temperature. Air is very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer which means the heating or cooling unit is already starting off at a disadvantage. You have to expend more energy to heat cold air or to cool hot air than you do by starting off at a stable temperature somewhere in between. All that extra energy translates into money spent. Depending on a number of factors, geothermal pumps provide heating at a rate of up to 3/4 of the cost of traditional heating systems and cooling at a rate of 1/4 to 1/2 the cost of traditional air conditioners. A 1,500 square foot home that has been equipped with a geothermal pump can reasonably expect to pay $30-$50 per month in heating and cooling costs. When you factor in the availability of hot water that is virtually free, the savings through efficiency are even more apparent. Another way in which geothermal pumps are more efficient is that they are both a heating and cooling unit wrapped up into one. This saves you the trouble and cost of installing and maintaining two separate units that perform the work of one geothermal pump.
- Maintenance & Reliability: Geothermal pump systems have very few moving parts and are completely shielded from environmental factors that can damage traditional HVAC systems. This means they are incredibly unlikely to break down and are far less likely to incur repair costs.
How Do Geothermal Heat Pumps Save Money?
Outside of the minimal maintenance on the fans and filters of the forced air units that push the air through the home and the minimal management of sediment in the water loop of open-loop systems, there is very little to worry about.
The fact that the system is contained entirely underground or within the structure of the home means that you don’t have to worry about the wear and tear associated with an external condenser Things like dirt, leaves, and vandalism will never be a concern.
Other Things To Consider
The major reservation most people have about geothermal heating pumps is the initial cost of investment. At first glance, the sticker shock can be enough to send most people running for the hills. However, if you take into account the benefits outlined above, it becomes quite clear that they are worth the investment. There are also a number of ways that the initial costs can be mitigated.
The specifics of these mitigating factors are too dependent on outside circumstances to go into too much detail and will require a bit of further research on the part of the buyer, but the basic concepts should be enough to get an interested person started off in the right direction.
- Government Subsidies: Many state, local, and federal subsidies exist that reward the homeowner who invests in renewable energy. One of the best ways to find out more about these programs would be to consult with a local contractor who works with geothermal heat pumps. They will most likely have some informational resources at their disposal that will answer your questions or, at least, be able to direct you to a government entity that can answer any questions you might have.
- Geothermal Pump Leasing: Some utility companies and other interested third-parties offer the option of paying for the installation of a geothermal pump system on your property that you then pay to lease at a rate lower than your current energy costs. This is an excellent solution for homeowners for whom the initial buy-in price of a geothermal pump is simply out of reach.
Another major consideration that needs to be taken into account is the installation process. The process of installing a geothermal pump in your home is quite complicated and definitely should be performed by an experienced professional. It can also be quite intrusive in the case of retrofitting existing homes,especially where radiant floor heating is being installed.
Whether it is a retrofit or a new build, the ground around the site is going to have to be extensively dug up to accommodate the pipe array. This will mean it will have to be re-landscaped afterward, and any landscaping features already present will probably need to be moved or destroyed.
When all is said and done, geothermal heat pumps are easily one of the greenest, most efficient, and cost-effective methods of heating or cooling a home that is available on the market today and it’s no surprise that they are finally coming into more common use after over 50 years on the sidelines.
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