Let's Get Down To Earth: Fact Sheet On Geothermal Heat Pumps
OK, I know what you are thinking: "What are Geothermal Heat pumps?" Well, let's use a simple illustration: Take a piping hot cup of coffee and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Taste it. What has happened? We would say that it 'cooled off.' But what REALLY happened? Actually, what happened was that the heat in the hot cup of coffee 'transferred' to the cup and to the surrounding air. But suppose we reverse that: what if we devise a machine that would take a cold cup of coffee, extract the heat from the air surrounding it, and pump it into the coffee. What would happen? The coffee would get hot. This is exactly what geothermal heat pumps do: it "pumps" the heat - it moves it in a certain way. So, if geothermal heat pumps are to work, they must have a source of heat: either the surrounding air or --- in the case of geothermal heat pumps, the source of the heat is the heat from the ground or soil (we sometimes call them 'ground source heat pumps'). So geothermal heat pumps use the ground for heat - 'geothermal'. Other types of heat pumps (called 'air source' heat pumps) take heat from the air around the unit. Geothermal heat pumps can also be used to COOL a building - just reverse the process. It will now act like a refrigerator: geothermal heat pumps take heat from inside the building and move it to the ground outside (and it is cool even in the summer). Again, the air source heat pump must move the hot air from the building to the hot air outside, and again the air source heat pump must work harder. So, in hot weather cool, or cold, geothermal heat pumps can usually operate more efficiently - and that means savings for you! Another great option for those using geothermal heat pumps is to use it for heating hot water. Geothermal heat pumps can be installed with an add-on device called a 'desuperheater' - this device will partially heat your water. But here's the ingenious part: in summertime, when your air conditioner is running (geothermal heat pumps can double as air conditioners), the desuperheater will use some of the extra heat taken out by the air conditioning process to heat your hot water! So, in the summertime, your water will be heated for free! In wintertime, part of the heating power of geothermal heat pumps is used to heat the water. If, in your home, your geothermal heat pumps will be operating most of the time (especially to cool things off in the summer) you can save lots of $$ in heating your water. For many today, GHP's (Geothermal Heat Pumps) are the only way to go! |
