Geothermal Heat Pumps: Superior New Technology
A Geothermal Heat Pump (GHP)is a device that extracts heat from beneath the ground. It functions based on the fact that heat will flow from higher temperature materials to lower temperature materials by conduction or by convection (air currents). Geothermal pumps absorb energy from the ground or bodies of water to provide space and water heating. This works because the earth absorbs about 50% of the sun’s energy that reaches the surface of the planet.
Ground source heating and cooling provides high-comfort and cost-effectiveness with an environmentally friendly technology that makes use of the Earth’s capacity to store energy in the form of heat. Geothermal Heating Systems move heat from the earth or water into a building, or from a building back into the earth. A small amount of electricity is used to operate pumps, fans, controls, and small compressor.
GHPs utilize the relatively constant temperature of the ground or water several feet below the surface as a source of heating and cooling and are appropriate for both retrofit or new homes. In addition to space heating and cooling, geothermal heat pumps can provide hot water with virtually no additional energy requirements because GHPs don’t create heat; they merely move it from one area to another. This is a relatively new technology that can save homeowners money
It can cost several times to install a geothermal heating and cooling system, compared to the traditional kind. However, those costs are recovered over the next five to ten years, in the form of saving on energy costs. The interior components of these systems can easily last twenty-five years, and the piping in the ground can last fifty years. These systems are practical in most areas, and about 50,000 new systems are put in every year. They heat in the winter, and cool in the summer.
Many new residential systems are equipped with desuperheaters which transfer excess heat from the geothermal heat pump’s compressor to the home’s hot water storage tank providing very efficient water heating. However, the desuperheater will not provide hot water during the spring and fall when the geothermal heat pump system is not operating. But because the geothermal heating system is so much more efficient than other means of water heating, some manufacturers are offering ‘full demand’ systems that utilize a separate heat exchanger to cost-effectively provide for hot water needs.
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