Geothermal For A Eco-Home

Geothermal energy is contained in underground reservoirs of steam, hot water, and hot dry rocks. In industrial application, this energy can be used to generate electricity by extracting hot water or steam from geothermal reservoirs in the earth’s crust to steam turbines to drive generators to produce electricity. For home application, geothermal resources are used directly to heat and cool buildings through the installation of geothermal heat pumps.

Geothermal Energy For Eco-Friendly Home

The idea of geothermal heating is quite old. Hot spring water was used to heat bathhouses back in ancient Rome. Over the last two decades, great improvement was made on geothermal technology and the market for geothermal heat pumps was rapidly expanding.

Compared to conventional air conditioning system, geothermal heat pump is able to attain very high energy efficiency when heating and cooling a building. In most home installation, the geothermal heat pump draws its power from a renewable energy source, such as solar power source. For this reason, geothermal heat pumps have superior environmental performance in virtually all locations.

The geothermal-solar combination of green energy installation typically costs much higher on initial cost but much lower on maintenance and energy costs. They are probably the best way to eliminate the need for natural gas heating in the winter while at the same time slashing peak demand in the summer. They also require less floor space than conventional heating and cooling systems because the exterior system is underground. They are very quiet and long-lasting.

Installing Geothermal For Home

A geothermal heat pump moves heat into or out of the earth to heat or cool the home through a ground and water loop system. In heating mode, the loop system of polyethylene pipes extract heat from soil beneath the frost line. In cooling mode, the pipes return heat to the earth. Ground loop can be installed either as horizontal or vertical closed loop whereas water loop can either be well-to-well open loop or lake/pond closed loop configurations.

The heat pump furnace unit and distribution system are located inside the house. Heat is transferred from the ground loop system to the furnace unit and the heat is moved to the distribution system to heat the house. The system operates in reverse to cool the house. Homeowners simply set the temperature with an electronic thermostat. The system will heat or cool to achieve the temperature.