Source Heat Pumps
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How To Heat Your Home Using The Earth's Natural Heat
Did you know that in northern countries like the UK, the earth just a few feet below the surface keeps a constant temperature of between 11 and 12 degrees Centigrade, even in winter? It traps the heat of the sun, and stores it underground, all year round. A Ground Source Heat Pump transfers this heat to your home to provide space-heating. Using a compressor , it increases this heat to around 45 or 50 degrees, and transfers it to radiators or underfloor heating. The heat can also be used to pre-heat your hot water, meaning you need less gas or electricity for this also.
Because they make use of the renewable energy stored in the ground, Ground Source Heat Pumps provide one of the most energy-efficient ways of heating buildings. The only energy used by Ground Source Heat Pump systems is the electricity to power the pump. Normally a system will deliver 3 or 4 times as much thermal energy as the electrical energy used to drive the system. If you can source your electricity from a renewable source such as wind or solar, then your heating will be completely clean and non-polluting.
Ground Source Heat Pumps have been widely used for many years in both Europe and North America. There are now several hundred thousand in operation. In Germany, tens of thousands of systems are installed each year. They typically cost more to install than conventional heating systems. In the UK you should currently expect to pay around £8,000 or more to heat a medium-sized house, although government grants can refund some of this cost . However, Heat Pumps have very low maintenance costs, and can be expected to provide reliable and environmentally-friendly heating for over 20 years.
In a modern, well insulated house, a Ground Source Heat Pump system can also save you money on running costs. It is likely to be cheaper to run than an oil-fired boiler, and less than a third of the running cost of electric heating. Currently it is likely to be just a little bit cheaper than the very best of the modern condensing gas boilers, but gas prices may well rise in the future in many countries.
There are 3 main elements to a Ground Source Heat Pump system. The first is the 'ground loop' which is a length of pipe buried in the ground, either in a borehole or a horizontal trench. For a modern detached house you will typically need two trenches about 40 to 50 metres long to supply enough heat for the house. The ground loop collects the heat from the earth. The second main element is the heat pump, which is typically the same size as a fridge-freezer. This transfers and increases the heat from the ground loop. Finally you need a distribution system which basically means underfloor heating or radiators.
Ground Source Heat Pumps are most suitable for homes that are well insulated, because otherwise they can become very expensive to install. The cost of a system is directly related to its size, which is in turn driven by the heat it needs to deliver. If you live in an older building with very high heat loss, this can add substantially to the capital cost on installing a heat pump. Money spent on upgrading wall, floor and loft insulation can save a large amount on this capital cost. Unfortunately, some older buildings can never be made sufficiently energy efficient to use the modern heating distribution systems that go with Ground Source Heat Pumps, such as low temperature underfloor heating, or low temperature radiators.
You should consult a professional installer if you are considering such a system. They will be able to give you detailed advice on the suitability of your home. Issues that you should consider are things like whether you have enough space to dig the trench for the ground loop, what kind of heating distribution system you want , and the size of Heat Pump you will need.
With over 40% of carbon dioxide emissions coming from the heating of buildings in countries like the UK, energy-efficient systems like a Ground Source Heat Pump are looking more and more attractive. If your home is well insulated, and you have some outside space like a garden, it really is worth investigating a system like this to help cut your personal contribution to Climate Change, by making better use of the free heat supplied by the earth.
Alex Perry is a founder of http://www.DownwithCO2.co.uk, which helps people cut their personal contribution to climate change through providing information and contacts.
Ground Source Heat Pumps Heat And Cool Your Home Without Gas Or Oil
Ground source heat pumps , often called geothermal heat pumps, tap into the heat naturally generated many meters below the surface of the earth. Just a little ways down, the earth's temperature is warm and relatively stable, so these systems can bring controllable and effective heating, cooling, and hot water to residential and commercial buildings. Best of all, they allow people to do all this without having to use expensive and carbon-producing fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
There are two types of ground source heat pump systems: those with closed loops and those with open loops. In closed loop systems, liquid circulates through pipes buried beneath the earth's surface. During the winter, when the goal is warming a house, the fluid absorbs heat from the earth and carries back to the building. This very hot liquid can be effectively used to heat a home, and also quite obviously becomes a free-flowing source of useable hot water. During the summer, the system is designed to actually draw heat out of the building, and either use it to heat water for household use or deliver it back into the ground. Open looped systems are similar, except that the water supply within the pipes is continually refreshed.
The bulk of geothermal systems are the pipes that are buried far underground, so what is needed in your home is a unit likely no bigger than your current hot water heater and furnace. If you currently use oil, you may be able to get rid of or at least substantially downsize the size of your oil tank. Many people worry about the longevity and upkeep costs of this type of system because the bulk of the cost goes into burying the pipe underground. Recently however many companies have been offering 40-75 year warranties on the parts of the system that is buried.
If you already have a forced air oil or gas-fed furnace system it may be easy for you to convert to what is called a "dual system". In this case you would choose which heating and cooling system would be primary at any particular time - most likely the geothermal system - and the other system will only work when needed, such as during an extremely cold spell in the winter.
GSHPs are quiet and safe. There are no exposed parts, fans, storage tanks, etc. that can hurt kids or pets. Nothing is burned so there is no flame. The heating source is the earth so there is nothing to wear out. They are also quiet because the earth is doing the work of the motors in your current furnace.
The initial cost for ground source heat pumps is greater than that of a conventional oil or gas system. However, that initial cost is often made up in three to six years depending on the cost of fuel and the temperature in your area. The greatest benefit of these systems is that you no longer have to use oil or gas at all, so not only are you not subject to the price fluctuations and uncertainty of these fuels, but you also reduce your own "carbon footprint" in the process.
Ground source systems are easy to install, particularly when they are replacing another forced-air system. In this case it is as simple as a retrofit after the pipes are placed. However, they can also be installed to completely replace the system you already have. If you don't already have central air conditioning, that can be an automatic and immediate benefit of these systems. Contact an experienced installer and he or she can tell you exactly what would be involved in installing a geothermal heat pump in your home.
For more information about ground source and geothermal heat pumps, please see http://www.groundsourceheatpumps.info and http://www.geothermalheatpumps.info
Eco House 1, Heat In And Heat Out
In my previous article 'Help Save The Environment and Save Yourself Money!' I introduced the idea that we can all effectively contribute to helping reduce CO2 emissions while also saving money. The home is the area in which we have the greatest opportunity to save energy and the key to understanding how to do it is understanding energy in and energy out.
The first thing we have to understand about balancing heat in and heat out in a house is that our strategy will get reversed depending on whether it is winter or summer.
In the winter, heat escapes through the walls, windows and roof and we have to put more heat into the house in the form of heaters to keep ourselves warm.
In the summer, heat leaks in through the walls, windows and roof and we have to remove heat from the house using air conditioning systems to keep ourselves cool.
The common factor for both reducing heat escaping in the winter and heat leaking in the summer is the use of insulation. Modern houses are built today with good levels of insulation in the external walls, roof and good double glazing for the windows. In terms of long term energy savings we can say that the use of insulation is a 'no brainer'.
If you have an older house it is really easy to lay insulation material in the roof to give yourself better insulation. You can also consider having an insulation contractor, spray insulation in the walls and investing in replacing your windows with double glazed units. All these measures can result in significant fuel savings in both winter and summer.
The next area to tackle in reducing your energy consumption is to reduce the energy used for heating in the winter. The simple ways to do this are as follows:
1. Keep the house cooler in winter by reducing the temperature setting for the temperature controller. Wear more clothes than you would in summer.
2. Use a lower temperature setting at night than in the daytime.
3. Don't run the heating when you are not in the house, or for very cold days set the temperature setting much lower than you would when you are in the house.
Finally in the summer everything is turned on its head:
1. Keep the house warmer by increasing the temperature setting for the temperature controller. Wear less clothes than in winter.
2. If it cools off late at night open some windows to let more heat escape.
3. Don't run the air conditioning when you are not in the house.
Simple isn't it, these are the simple things that we can all do and the effects are easy to understand. There are other ways to reduce energy use in the house and I will discuss them in future articles in my 'Eco House' series.
Happy saving, Simon
I am a husband and father and concerned about the global environment that my son will inherit. I believe the greenhouse effect is real and we need to act together and act now in order to have any chance of averting an environmental disaster.
My philosophy in conservation is that if as individuals we all do our part in reducing energy consumption we can make a big difference. The best part about it is that we can all save ourselves significant amounts of money in reduced fuel costs. This is a grass roots approach so we need as many people as possible to start saving energy if we want to make an impact.
If you are interested in more information please contact me at simonmaya@yahoo.com
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