Geothermal heating system - Ground source heating system
A “Smarter” Way to Heat and Cool
What if there was an abundant source of free, renewable energy
that could be used to heat a house in winter,
cool it in summer and provide hot water at the tap all year round?
Well, a growing number of homeowners say, there is: the sun.
While most people already have a basic
understanding of solar panels, these homeowners are actually talking about
geothermal.
Geothermal heating and cooling is
extremely energy-efficient
Geothermal
heating system and cooling system is extremely energy-efficient and generally provides the lowest utility bills of any
residential system. It taps into the renewable solar energy from the
sun’s rays that's stored in the ground and provides savings from 40%-70%
on utility bills.
“The secret to a geothermal heat pump’s amazing efficiency is
that, although it operates similarly to a
standard heat pump, it exchanges heat with the ground instead of the outdoor
air,” says Tom Huntington, President and CEO of WaterFurnace, the leading
manufacturer of geothermal products.
“The temperature of the outdoor air can vary greatly from
day to night and more than 100°F from the
coldest winter night to the hottest
summer day. In contrast, the temperature just a few feet below the earth’s surface stays an average 55°-70°F year-round.”
In the winter, a geothermal heat pump can produce up to five
dollars worth of heat for each dollar
spent on electricity. Meanwhile, the most efficient traditional
furnace returns less than 98% of heat
for each dollar spent on expensive, polluting fossil fuel. And
unlike ordinary heat pumps, which struggle to pull heat from the air as
the outdoor temperature drops, the efficiency and heat output
from a geothermal heat pump
remains constant. During
the summer, a regular heat pump or central
air conditioner loses
efficiency and cooling output when the outdoor
temperature rises.
Unfortunately,
this is when your house
requires the greatest cooling capacity. The
Envision series from WaterFurnace is the highest rated unit ever
certified by AHRI (the association responsible
for industry ratings) at 30
EER (energy efficiency ratio).
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This is typically more than twice as
efficient as a standard heat pump or central air conditioner. To capture the heat energy from the
ground in winter or disperse heat during summer, a long pipe is usually buried
in the ground or placed at the bottom of a pond.
An environmentally friendly antifreeze/water solution, running
through the pipe, acts as the heat transfer
medium. If there’s an adequate supply of clean water, it can be used to
transfer heat.
Many new models also use earth-friendly
R-410A refrigerant instead of Freon.
Geothermal systems are extremely quiet, because there’s no outdoor
equipment to bother neighbors or
your family at night. This also reduces wear and tear from constant exposure to outdoor
weather and playing children.
The Environmental Protection Agency has called geothermal
heat pumps—also known as ground-source heat pumps or geoexchange—the most energy efficient, environmentally
clean and cost-effective heating and
airconditioning systems available.
More information about geothermal is available at the Geothermal
Heat Pump Consortium (www.ghpc.org) website or at the WaterFurnace.com
website.
If you are ready to turn your dream home into a reality visit www.rye-homes.com or download my free report below. If you have questions
about the design process or my home plans, feel free to email me at philliprye@philliprye.com.
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