Excellent Example of Geothermal Success!

Well fist off let me apologize to my readers for not having anything new and interesting up here in the last eight days. It has been a busy and difficult week for me. Anyway you came here to be educated not hear me complain!

I was forwarded this link to an article on The Washington Post website about a contributor who switched their home over from conventional heating oil and air conditioning to geothermal for their HVAC needs. The author has a 4,400 square foot home in Montgomery County, Maryland. This immense house came with a likewise immense HVAC bill, but the decision to switch to geothermal was made for mainly monetary reasons. The author compared the costs of replacing their heating oil burning furnace and other HVAC equipment with conventional HVAC equipment, like they already had, but also clean alternatives such as solar, wind, and geothermal. Between matters of practicality, cost, and return on investment, the author and his family settled on geothermal.

The projected costs for new conventional HVAC equipment ranged in the $9,500 and $11,000 range, however geothermal would cost them $23,950, before tax credits. They were able to apply for national, state, and county level tax credits including a 30% national tax credit, and another $7,000 from state and county governments. This brought the total cost of their project down low enough to compete with conventional HVAC replacements. One thing I should note is that later in the article the author does mention the cost of additional electricity to power the geothermal system and the cost of heating oil for the conventional HVAC system. When they originally started their project heating oil cost $2.61/gal, and now heating oil costs $3.91/gal. This price changes depending on where you live, but one thing that you cannot escape is the fact that prices are predicted to rise steeply in the next few years. All things considered the author claims they will recoup their original investment in 4.4 years, and from then on be saving nearly $2,500 annually.

My personal opinion is that geothermal is the way to g if you want cheap and reliable HVAC for your home. If you are worried about added electrical expenses then I suggest you factor in the cost of a inexpensive solar panel system, which can be had for $600-$1,000, to supplement your home electricity needs. By providing a constant room temperature by means of a geothermal system, you will have to heat and cool your house with less effort, meaning more savings. This also will allow you to save money on utilities and heating oil that you can spend to further your homes efficiency with better insulation or windows and doors (all of which are usually the biggest reasons for a homes energy inefficiency). If you can obtain a small loan or have the extra cash to lay out I would suggest geothermal as a great starting point, or addition, to a sustainable or energy efficient home. With greater efficiency, comes greater independence for you and our country.

For more information on how geothermal works check out this article from Popular Mechanics.