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Feb.21,2009I have been getting lots of questions about how geothermal works especially since the stimulus package upgraded the rebate that you get to 30% of the total cost. To date, I have not heard any consumer or builder get the principles of geothermal exactly correct so I have asked our in-house expert to give us a quick lesson on Geothermal. To get a more thorough explanation in person visit us this week at the SouthEastern Lifestyle Construction Conference.
GEOTHERMAL 101
By: Fresh World – Geothermal Systems design, Sales, Installation – Fresh World- Sustainable Solutions for Life
Geothermal heating and cooling technology has been around for decades, but not many people use it—compared to a conventional heat pump, it’s 2x more expensive to install. But if you’re building a new house, installing a geothermal system will only cost a few thousand dollars more than a conventional system and can pay off big through reduced energy and upkeep costs.
A geothermal Heat Pump is nothing more than a Heat Pump. A common misconception is it uses water from the earth to heat and cool your house, it does not! It works on the same principles as a regular air to air heat pump. Firstly I’m going to explain how a Heat Pump works. Compression of any gas to a liquid state (any one remember their chemistry & physics classes?) generates heat. In this case the gas we use is called refrigerant. This high pressure refrigerant is then quickly discharged to a vapor state through the use of a nozzle called an expansion valve, the same way hair spray comes out of an aerosol can. That vaporized refrigerant is now really cold. This cold refrigerant is piped through a coil where air blows past it from your air conditioner unit and the cold is what you feel in the summer time coming out of your vents. Once this refrigerant leaves the coil it begins its journey again through the compressor that puts the refrigerant back into a compressed liquid state. Imagine putting the hair spray back into the can and pressurizing it again so that the cycle can start all over again. But wait. The compressor and the refrigerant are now really hot from all this work so the Heat Pump uses a fan to cool everything off. This is what you see sitting outside your house making all kinds of racket out side your bedroom window. In the winter time this process still happens but in reverse. Read More…
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Tags : Atlanta, energy, geothermal, green, rebates, reduce, Southeast, sustainable, water
I love the day after sales. I just picked up some chocolate for my family that was 75% off retail. The first day after the Valentine’s day was 50% now it is 75%. Pretty soon it will be discounted even more.