Using Ground Source Heat Pumps for Power
Saturday, July 10th, 2010Ground source heat pumps present a relatively affordable and eco friendly technique to use spare heat from the earth for heating and cooling both residential and business properties. Starting set-up costs can be rather a lot higher than regular air-source systems, but geothermal heat pumps present drastically decrease ownership costs over the long term. Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are systems that work with the earth?s temperature to deliver heating, cooling and hot water for commercial institutions and residential buildings. The systems are developed to take advantage of the fact that temperatures remain at a near constant level of between 7 C and 21 C just a couple of feet underneath the ground, irrespective of geographic area or surface air temperatures. In the course of winter, the units essentially extract heat from the ground and transport it to a commercial building or house, although in summer the systems extract heat from inside buildings and transport it to the ground. Ground source heat pumps are electrically run and are at times referred to as geothermal heat pumps, or geo-exchange pumps, or just as earth-coupled heat pumps. A full-fledged GSHP device is composed of a heat pump, a ground loop system for absorbing heat from the ground or rejecting it back to the ground, and air ducts or radiant floor systems for delivering the hot or cold air. The ground loop system generally consists of many loops of plastic tubing loaded with antifreeze liquid or water, hidden under the ground in horizontal or vertical style. Throughout winter, the liquid in the loops collects heat from the earth and shoves it to the heat pump when a compressor elevates the temperature even more before circulating it through the building. The stream of the liquid inside the loops is reversed throughout summer. This results in the warmer air being taken out from the building and transferred to the earth while cooler liquid is circulated back to the heat pump and then through the building. An open loop system functions in about the same style, but in such cases the liquid in the loops is usually ejected into the earth. Ground source heat pumps have been in use since the 1940s and are viewed as a more environmentally-friendly and cost-effective alternative to standard air-transfer based heating and cooling systems. Tests have found that GSHP systems have heating efficiencies up to 70% higher than conventional systems and cooling efficiencies of nearly 40% more than air-conditioners. The first cost of setting up a geothermal heat pump can be quite high compared to conventional heating and cooling systems. However, over the long-term the pumps are more affordable to own and to preserve. They also can provide up to 50% savings on energy usage. In some instances, a geothermal heat pump is set up along with an air-source heat pump in order to lower initial installation costs. Learn more info about Ground Source Heat Pumps