Consumers have many space conditioning system options to choose from.  Only one, the Ground Source Heat Pump System, was reported by the Environmental Protection Agency in its April, 1993 Report: Space Conditioning, The Next Frontier (Report 430-R-93-004) as "The most energy efficient, environmentally clean and cost effective space conditioning system available today."  That quote is truer today than it was in 1993 because ground source heat pump equipment and ground coupling technology continue to improve while most conventional heating and cooling technologies reached their maximum efficiencies years ago.  Many configurations of ground source heat pumps are now available (water-air, water-water, combined water-air and water-water, etc.) that offer flexibility in the design and installation of heating and cooling systems for residential and commercial facilities while providing efficiency levels that are unmatched by competing systems.

Currently there are many misunderstandings about geothermal systems as well as systems being designed and installed improperly.  Many systems are being designed using only rough guide lines or general rule of thumb procedures.  To design a system properly, every detail counts. 

Some misconceptions:

• These systems do not work in New England - False : Geothermal systems are being used successfully not only in New England but other cold climate areas including Canada and the Dakota's.  See our partial list below.  

• These systems are noisy -False : These systems can be designed to work with radiant floor heating; Baseboard hot water; Forced Air .... just like any other system.

• The yard will be a mess all summer - False : The mess can be minimized with proper planning

• A very large area of land is required - False : The land area can be larger or smaller depending on the design and the selection between vertical drilling or horizontal trenching.

• A source of ground water is required - False : Closed Loop systems have water inside the loop pipe.  The pipe is inserted into the vertical bore hole or laid in a horizontal trench.

• They don't save that much energy - False : Depending on all conditions these systems reduce energy use by 30 to 70 percent.  The energy used is electricity for circulatory pumps to move the water through the pipes, the compressor in the heat pump, and the fan for a hot air system.

• You still need a back-up source of heat - False : If you do, it was not designed properly. 

• You can only operate the geothermal system for about an hour at a time, and then need to 'switch' to another heat source to give the geothermal system a rest - False : This would be the result of a poor design.

 Examples of relatively large buildings being served by Geothermal:

Canada, Prince Edward Island :

Charlottetown - 82 room hotel

                      Commercial office building

Connecticut:

Westport - Westport Inn (71.8 tons)

Iowa:

Dallas County - Court House 44,000 square feet

West Hancock - Public School

Muscatine - All Steel Manufacturing (970.1 tons)

Olmstead - Olmstead Falls City Schools (228.9 tons)

Stuart - West Central High School (241.9 tons)

Kansas:

Greensburg - Sun Chips Business Incubator - 9,580 square feet

                  City Hall - 5,000 square feet

                  Public School - 120,000 square feet

Massachusetts:

Harvard University - Quadrangle Recreation and Athletic Center, Radcliffe Gym

Sudbury - U.S. Fish & Wildlife

New Bedford - U.S. Customs Office

Norwood, Norwood Dialysis Center (46.0 tons)

Dudley - Nichols College

Great Barrington - Berkshire Hills School

Maine:

Portsmouth - Condominium development

Saco - Public Transportation Center

Nebraska:

Nebraksa City - Northside Elementary School (221 tons)

New Hampshire:

Hudson - St. Joseph's Hospital

Oregan:

Sandy - Sandy High School (591.7 tons)

South Dakota:

Platte - Platte School District

Mitchell - Hanson County Courthouse (36.7 tons)

Texas:

Fort Worth - Ominex (36.1 tons)

Houston - NASA Childcare Center