With the volatility in energy prices, many households are turning to Geothermal heating and cooling to provide a sustainable, affordable approach to climate control. At a base level, geothermal energy in the core of the planet can provide energy to help regulate indoor temperatures all year round without reliable upon traditional fossil fuels.
Many homes have installed geothermal heat pumps to provide a primary or supplemental source of heating or cooling for their home. With improving technology, a number of developed countries including China and Sweden are leading the way in direct applications of geothermal energy to homes and buildings.
Geothermal energy has been rapidly growing in adoption based upon improving efficiency standards. Engineers have vastly improved the techniques to extract geothermal energy and apply it directly into central heating and cooling systems
One of the major factors driving the rapid adoption of the technology are savings rates – properly installed heating pumps can provide up to a 50% cost savings relative to traditional sources of home climate control. Many utility companies and local governments offer rate and tax incentives to customers who adopt the technology, further driving a trend toward widespread installation.
The direct application of geothermal energy to home energy systems through ground heat pumps has earned the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) seal of approval. Simple laws of physics and economic trends have given incentive for the adoption of the technology for many homes and businesses. Since the temperature within the ground remains relatively stable around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, the differential between these temperatures and general climate conditions helps to regulate internal environments. Combined with rebate incentives from the federal government, many households have actively integrated geothermal systems to lower their heating and cooling bills substantially.
While the exact household-level savings is a function of the baseline energy costs, many homes save over $1,000 per year after implementation of a heat pump. Compared to traditional furnaces, heat pumps improve energy transfer efficiency by up to 300%, resulting in greatly reduced home energy bills. Especially for larger homes, these savings can be substantial.
At the core of any heating and cooling system is a ground-source heating pump with an underground water cycle. The ground temperature impacts the refrigerant in the heat pump, resulting in energy that can help heat or cool a home. Simply, the heat pump improves upon the traditional heating pump technology which has to generate energy. By placing the heat pump up to six feet below the soil, it is able to extract energy from the soil temperatures to help regulate the internal temperature of the home. Depending on one’s geographical location, these temperatures can range from 40 to 70 degrees.
Importantly, heat pumps don’t experience the same diminishing marginal returns on efficiency that traditional heating systems do; during particularly extreme temperature days, the pumps have to work more actively but retain their high efficiency standards to help heat or cool homes. Geothermal heating and cooling has been a revolution in sustainable home energy production, and is rapidly growing in adoption.
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