So by now you’ve probably gathered that as a global community, we are all trying to make the move towards cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy. Hydro energy and solar energy are pretty self-explanatory. We’ve already talked about kinetic energy, a very cool innovation using the movement of a multitude to power common amenities. One type of energy that's been around in some form for ages but seems to get a bit less screen time is geothermal energy. Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that uses the heat continuously produced within the earth’s core to generate energy.
One of the earliest examples of geothermal energy use that you might be familiar with is the heating of greek and roman baths. France was one of the first countries to use an installed heating system and the largest geothermal district heating system is in Reykjavik, Iceland. Idaho is thought to be the first place where geothermal heating was used for residents of the US and today over 80 countries around the world use this type of clean energy for household, commercial or industrial use.
Geothermal heating is incredibly efficient, about 400%, meaning for every unit of energy used to power the system, about 4 units of power are supplied. For this reason, a geothermal heat pump is roughly about 300% more efficient than the best gas pump on the market. Additionally, though drilling into the earth does still release a certain amount of greenhouse gasses, the difference between it and burning fossil fuels is significant. If 100,000 residential units replaced conventional residential units, over the 20 year lifetime of a typical residential heating unit, it would be equal to 58,700 cars being removed from the road or 120,000 trees planted.* 1.1 metric tons of carbon equivalents would never be released.
This is also a consistent source of energy. Although you can exhaust a thermal field, they can normally be used for 20 to 30 years and like a water well, redrilling is sometimes a possibility. Also, leaving a geothermal field for a period of time may allow for regeneration. Well maintained thermal fields have lasted for decades longer than this average and some currently in use have been operational since the early 1900s.
If you decide to use a thermal pump to heat your home, you should be prepared for a higher initial cost. The system commonly costs between $18k and $30k though it’s estimated that this system pays for itself in 2 to 10 years depending largely on where you are in the US and the efficiency of the heat exchange for your locations. The system also requires some amount of land as the design requires digging into the earth’s surface to access the consistent underground temperatures.
While initially expensive, this unit will ultimately pay for itself and because it is better for the environment, you may also be eligible for some level of government tax benefit. It is definitely an investment but hopefully as technologies continually improve, the availability of this option will become more and more accessible to the general public.
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