Geothermal Heat Pumps

For high-latitude locations in the northern and southern hemispheres, geothermal heat pumps are de rigueur for eco-friendly and economically attractive alternatives to home heating and cooling.

Geothermal heat pumps function as a direct function of the difference between average annual temperature (which is equal to the year round soil temperature) and the temperature extremes. So, the greater the difference in temperatures between summer and winter, the more a geothermal heat pump will save in both heating and cooling costs. Expect overall operational savings of 30-40% on an initial investment only slightly higher than conventional heat pumps.

For homes that already have conventional systems, retrofitting with a geothermal heat pump is often too expensive to reasonably consider. Also these require digging up the grounds to install buried piping and ductwork, so the aesthetic disturbance is excessive to existing homes but not a problem for new constructions.

In the tropics, where the summer and winter temperatures do not vary greatly, geothermal heat pumps are not capable of providing savings greater than 10%, and since tropical homes are not heated and only rarely have central air conditioning, geothermal heat pumps are hardly ever used.