Geothermal Heating and Cooling Systems Are a Viable Alternative to Traditional HVAC
Geothermal systems have been around for a while, but they have never attained mainstream status. Mostly because of the cost of installing such a system is prohibitive to the average homeowner. Also, there aren’t that many HVAC contractors who know how to install them much less work on an existing system. My dad installed a geothermal system in the house he had built in 1988. The system performed well, but it was hard to find a good technician to work on it. These systems are gaining in popularity and that should mean more experienced contractors.
Geothermal systems, which use the relatively stable and moderate temperature of the ground as an energy source, are piquing the interest of green-minded builders as an efficient and clean alternative to conventional heating and cooling systems.
Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) accounted for about 50,000 residential and (mostly) commercial installations nationwide in 2006. That’s less than 1% of the overall heating and cooling equipment market, according to a recent report issued by the Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based research firm. GHPs work typically by exchanging or transferring heat via liquid-filled tubing loops that run between the house and the ground or a nearby body of water. That same report, though, forecasts 6.5% annual growth for the technology through 2011, setting a new bar of 70,000 installations that year. By 2016, the report predicts nearly 100,000 geothermal heat pumps will be put in place per year.
(Via EcoHome Magazine.)