Re: Alleviating Energy Costs

[John Coviello]

For anyone interested in a Geothermal Heat Pump, a system required for an average sized American home cost about $18,000 right now.  Prices are expected to slowly fall as more people get into the business and supplies become more available.  Some states offer incentives.  My state offers about $1,800 in incentives,  which is a little more than the sales taxes involved in the purchase of a geothermal heat pump system.   Heat pumps concentrate the natural heating or cooling (depending on season) of the earth (usually around 58 F constant) using an electric heat exchanger.  The heat exchangers are quite efficient and geothermal heat pump systems are known to produce heat at rates that are approximately 50% to 70% more efficient than a traditional natural gas or oil heating system.  So, the cost savings can be rather significant, and help pay for the system over a period of time, when one converts to a geothermal heat pump system for their heating and cooling needs.  If you really want to go green, you can produce the electricity needed to run your geothermal heat pump system via solar or other renewable means, and then you're really cutting yourself out of the hydrocarbon economy. ----- Original Message ----- From: Frederick Sparber To: vortex-l@eskimo.com Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 8:24 AM Subject: Re: Alleviating Energy Costs Govt. poop.   http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=geo_heat.pr_crit_geo_heat_pumps   "Geothermal Heat Pump: A geothermal heat pump model uses the thermal energy of the ground or groundwater as the heat source and heat sink for residential space heating and/or cooling. It may provide both space heating and cooling, cooling only or heating only functions. A geothermal heat pump model consists of one or more factory-made assemblies that normally include an indoor conditioning coil with air moving means, compressor(s) and refrigerant to fluid heat exchanger(s). In addition, some or all of the domestic water heating shall be provided through the use of a desuperheater, integrated demand water heater or a separately installed compressor that provides demand water heating. The geothermal heat pump includes all the equipment and connections from the point at which the ground heat exchanger enters the house, except for indoor equipment that was installed by someone not representing the manufacturer or manufacturer's representative, such as the g! round heat exchanger installer." Frederick