Hi guys, this is a guest post, hopefully you enjoy this article from Lorie Wampler. Lorie Wampler is the founder of SplitAirConditioning blog. It’s a nonprofit web site centered on her personal experience with hvac to cut down energy use and improve indoor air quality. With this she would like to increase the consciousness on eco-friendly tips for the home and change the public conception of energy efficiency.
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Retired Oklahoma University researcher indicates how geothermal heat pumps lower electricity and improve the quality of air. Are you aware that Gerald McClain, after numerous years working with geothermal energy master James Bose at Oklahoma State University, has designed an innovative home geothermal cooling and heating unit?
Heat pumps function like a fridge in reverse, they use electrical power to move heat from one place to another rather than producing heat directly. For that reason, they can be 2 to 3 times more energy efficient than standard electric heating units.
A geothermal heat pump is a central home heating and/or cooling system that pumps heat to/or from the terrain. It uses the ground as a heat source (in the winter months) or a heat sink (in the summer). The geothermal pump systems are among the most energy efficient systems for providing HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning) and water heating. The installation costs are higher than normal systems (about $45,000 lowered by a 30 per cent with federal tax credit), but the difference is normally returned in energy savings in three to 10 years.
The Gerald McClain’s geothermal system is based on:
- Six one inch diameter pipes sunk 300 feet into the soft red clay below his home
- A water antifreeze mix in the pipes that picks up the ground’s constant 62 degree F. temperature
- 3 heat pumps in the attic that use a small electric powered compressor to heat or cool the home
The electricity for the pumps costs about $100 monthly, much less than the usual heating and cooling costs in the area. A well preserved heat pump system not only will save electricity, but will also blow dust into the house, improving interior air quality.
Indoor dust can pose health dangers, specially to young kids. New studies (As published in the epa.gov site in Sept ’09) demonstrates that indoor dust is highly polluted by persistent and endocrine disrupting chemical substances (such as poly-chlorinated biphenyls).
Heat pumps get energy performance by transferring heat around as opposed to liberating it. This is not to say there is no air motion with a heat pump, but the heat transfer decreases that process. So does the lack of a cold-cycle as it exists in many standard furnaces, which also acts to blow dust through the house.
