In the Loop: Rising Fuel Costs Power Geothermal Heat Pumps PATH Case Study

Click here to visit the PATH website. The Contractor: Dan Green Water Source Heating & Cooling Eau Claire, Wis. Dan Green, owner of Water Source Heating and Cooling, has been in the heating, ventilation, and cooling business since 1983. Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) make up 90 percent of his business, with 60 to 80 GHP installations a year. The Technology: Geothermal heat pumps The Project: A 3,000-plus-square-foot ranch house, with 1,800 square feet of finished space, was converted from an oil-based heating and cooling system to a geothermal system. A GHP system consists of indoor heat-pump equipment, a vertical or horizontal ground loop, and a flow center to connect indoor and outdoor equipment. GHPs are appropriate for retrofit or new homes and can be used for virtually any size home in any region, provided the site has enough room to allow installation of a vertical well or horizontal ground loop. Ground loops can be installed in a vertical boring or a horizontal trench. Vertical boring holes are usually more expensive and used where limited property is available and there isn't enough space to run horizontal loops. Read a PATH Field Evaluation: Carl Franklin Homes: The Vista at Kensington Park, Dallas, Texas Why he uses GHPs: With high temperatures in the summer and near-zero in the winter, the Midwest is an ideal market for GHPs. Green started installing GHPs for clients who wanted a more efficient alternative. With the increasing cost of energy, GHP has become his primary source of business. "Most of our work comes through word-of-mouth referrals, especially once customers start seeing the big savings in their energy bills." If there is enough room on the property, Green prefers to install a geothermal heat pump using horizontal ground loops, which are more economical than vertical. Graphic courtesy of the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium. Green's story "We were asked to install a GHP system in a house in Alma Center, Wisconsin, where the homeowner had been using around 1,500 gallons a year of fuel oil for heating," says Green. "At current market prices, that puts the HVAC operating costs at about $3,700 a year. That's pretty expensive for anyone, especially an older woman on a fixed income. We had installed a geothermal heat pump in her daughter's home a couple years ago. Because of the savings, she wanted us to look at installing GHP in her mother's house. "Most of our work comes through word-of-mouth and referrals, especially once customers start seeing big savings in their energy bills. Word spreads fast when that happens. "We have been working with certain builders who have been putting geothermal in homes for years. After they started seeing how happy their customers ended up, they now offer it in all their homes. Plus, it really allows the builders to set themselves apart from their competitors."   1 | 2  NEXT