Ground source heating and cooling is a high-comfort, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly technology that takes advantage of the Earth's capacity to store energy in the form of heat. Geothermal heat pump systems use no fuel, but rather move heat from a structure to the earth (cooling) or from the earth into a building structure (heating). We call this Geo-Exchange! A small amount of electricity is used to operate the pumps, fans, controls, and compressor, which along with the heat exchangers are the major components of the ground source heat pump system.
The geothermal heat pump accomplishes its heating and cooling tasks by obtaining heat through a connection to the Earth know as an Earth loop or ground loop. The ground loop consists of a piping system circulating water or in some cases a water/antifreeze mixture from the earth to the geothermal heat pump and back. Because of the refrigeration circuit in the heat pump the ground temperature need not be especially warm and these ground loop systems will perform efficiently virtually everywhere in the U.S.
Since only a small amount of electricity is consumed by a geothermal heating and cooling system to move heat from your house to the earth, (or vice-versa) and no fuel is burned, it is possible to calculate an investment "payback period". A more complete way to evaluate the value of investing in a geothermal system is to analyze both the monthly energy cost savings compared to the existing (air source) system and the "life-cycle" costs involving how long the geothermal system will last compared to traditional heating and cooling systems. The monthly energy cost savings, in most cases, will exceed the "cost" of investing in the new geothermal system creating a net positive monthly cash flow upon startup of the new geothermal system. The estimated life of a geothermal system is greater than 24 years while the earth heat exchanger system is more than 50 years. A traditional gas furnace life expectancy is 18 years, while an air conditioner or air source heat pump both have life expectancies of 15 years, with proper maintenance. The value added to a home or commercial building by a geothermal ystem is measurable and recoupable to the building owner. Further advantages include: "free" hot water, no outdoor condensing unit (noise, maintenance, or vandalism), and geothermal heat pumps are the most environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems available today.