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I teach and speak regularly on building science, energy conservation, and sustainability. I want to point out that although this is a really neat technology, in residential (single family) applications, if the motivations of the property owner are the environment and carbon reduction, ground source heat pumps are not the place to start. Although these systems have their place in the "green" market and are much more cost effective in large scale applications, conservation is still, and will always be, the most cost effective and environmentally responsible thing to do. The added cost of a ground source heat pump and loop install are avoidable costs. If financial resources were spent on improving the energy efficiency of the building, complicated heating and cooling systems can be all together avoided. When done well, weatherization will substantially reduce the size and cost of the entire heating and cooling system. The "load", or, the number of btu's needed to condition the building, can only be reduced by improving the building enclosure.  We like to say, if you reduce the amount of heat you need (insulate and weatherize), you reduce the amount of heat you need (small heating system). Please consider having a show on energy efficiency, it is a far more responsible place to begin spending money.

Dan

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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