Geothermal

Why Geothermal

Cost Effective: 40 to 70 percent higher heating and cooling efficiency than other heating/cooling systems that translates direct savings to your utility bills. Although the initial cost would be incrementally higher than a conventional HVAC system installation, an efficient geothermal system saves enough on utility bills that the investment can be recouped in five to ten years.

Environmentally Safe: As the technology relies on the earth’s natural thermal energy it eliminates the need for fossil fuels thus reducing the amount of toxic emissions in to the atmosphere. Geothermal systems also eliminate the need for onsite fuel storage tanks which eliminates any chances of hazardous spills.

Provides Hot Water: Geothermal heat pumps (GHP) can also provide all or part of a household’s Hot Water through the addition of a desuperheater. During the summer, when the system is in cooling mode, the hot water is produced as a byproduct of the thermal process. In winter the superheated gases from the heat pump’s compressor are used to heat water. This hot water then circulated through a pipe to the home’s water heater tank. Hot water generation through the GHP is therefore obtained at no additional cost and increases the overall efficiency of the system.

Compact and Durable: Geothermal systems require no outside condensing units and the geothermal heat pump itself do not take much space. The Geothermal Heat Pumps are durable and require little maintenance. They contain fewer mechanical components and all components are either buried in the ground or located inside the home, which protects them from outdoor conditions.

Quiet: Geothermal systems are almost as quiet as a refrigerator providing a very pleasant environment inside and outside of buildings. They don’t require noisy outdoor units or loud combustion devices utilized for the conventional Heating and Air Conditioning systems.

Other Benefits: Since Geothermal systems use renewable energy from the sun, and because they don’t rely on outside air, they keep indoor air cleaner and free from pollens, outdoor pollutants, mold spores and other allergens. Also, they circulate much more air and operate at temperatures much closer to that of the human body so there is much more consistent warm air temperature throughout the space.

Geothermal HVAC systems operate much in the same way as a common household refrigerator. A Geothermal system uses the consistent temperature of the earth to either heat or cool the space. Outdoor ambient temperatures during the winter and summer months are very different. In the winter time it is not uncommon to have many days less than 20^oF and in the summer it is possible to have 100^oF days. By utilizing the constant 50-55^oF ground temperature, the temperature difference and the natural tendency of heat to flow from a high temperature to a low are in the favor of the Geothermal system. In the winter the warmer earth temperature will naturally want to warm the cool air at the surface and in the summer the hot surface temperatures will naturally want to enter the cooler earth. The mechanism used to harvest this constant temperature is known as the ground loop. The ground loop circulates a fluid through a Geothermal Heat Pump (GHP) where it passes through a heat exchanger and its energy is transferred to the environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant inside the GHP. The refrigerant is then moved through the system by a compressor. When it is moved, the refrigerant undergoes pressure and temperature changes. Depending on the season, its energy is then transferred to the conditioned space in the form of either heating or cooling via an air duct or hydronic network. Since a Geothermal system simply moves heat which is stored in the earth it uses very little energy to accomplish the same task of a gas, oil and electric resistant heating system or conventional central air conditioning system.

Geothermal in the Summer

Geothermal in the Winter