eGreen Energy. WaterFurnace - Smarter from the Ground Up™ How heat pumps work. Geo Exchange HVAC System. Geo - Exchange HVAC Systems This article examines the various technologies developed for reaping the benefits of natural thermal properties of the Earth and look at ways to integrate with the regular HVAC solutions to get better energy efficiencies. During seasonal changes the temperature of air changes from one extremity to the other and the variation is over a time period of day or gradually over the season. Due to variation in temperature there is increase or decrease in running efficiency of all HVAC systems, be it the ones dependent on air cooled condensers or water cooled systems with cooling towers.
Geo-exchange systems on the other hand use a constant thermal body Earth to give you higher energy efficiency levels. Earth with its huge mass is a neutral source of thermal energy for cooling or heating purposes. Ground Water: Vertical Closed Loops: Horizontal Closed Loops: This option is to excavate land to a depth of 10 to 12 feet and lay the pipes horizontally. Fresh Air Pre-Cooling: Geothermal heat pump. Ground source heating and cooling A geothermal heat pump or ground source heat pump (GSHP) is a central heating and/or cooling system that transfers heat to or from the ground. It uses the earth as a heat source (in the winter) or a heat sink (in the summer). This design takes advantage of the moderate temperatures in the ground to boost efficiency and reduce the operational costs of heating and cooling systems, and may be combined with solar heating to form a geosolar system with even greater efficiency.
Ground source heat pumps are also known as "geothermal heat pumps" although, strictly, the heat does not come primarily from the centre of the Earth, but from the Sun. They are also known by other names, including geoexchange, earth-coupled, earth energy systems. Setup costs are higher than for conventional systems, but the difference is usually returned in energy savings in 3 to 10 years, and even shorter lengths of time with federal, state and utility tax credits and incentives.
GEO - Voice of the Geothermal Heat Pump Industry.