When my hubby and I built our new home, environmental responsibility was a priority… Both of us hoped to take the necessary measures to minimize our carbon footprint; While creating a green living environment is a much greater investment, the energy savings have abruptly reuseed the cost.
Both of us spent the extra currency to install a geothermal heat pump that maintains the ideal year round temperature for around a dollar per morning, then the heat pump utilizes the free and renewable energy source underground in our backyard.
The ground absorbs the majority of the sun’s heat and remains at a relatively constant temperature, no matter what the weather brings. The high replacement cost of the program was due to the excavation necessary to implement an underground loop system. This looping network of pipes allows the geothermal program to draw heat energy out of the ground and pump it into the home. The program doesn’t burn fossil fuels to generate heat, but eliminating the combustion process avoids greenhouse gas emissions and the danger of carbon monoxide! In the summer time the geothermal heat pump reverses the process to pull heat out of the condo and move it to the ground. Because the heat pump is located inside the condo and protected from the elements, the two of us can expect it to last upwards of twenty years. The ground loop is warrantied for fifty years but has a life expectancy of a hundred years. Along with the environmental benefits, the geothermal heat pump has split the cost of heating and cooling by more than 50%. The program is charmingly clean, safe and quiet. It provides exceptional air filtration, dehumidification and also supplements our water heating needs… My hubby and I are now looking into the replacement of solar panels to eliminate our dependency on the power supplier.