Loch Sheldrake – In the mechanical room below Building H at Sullivan County Community College, big pipes wrapped in thick, white insulation run through the ceiling, heading up toward classrooms. The thick, curved pipes and the massive cubes of the heat exchangers look like a cross between Willy Wonka's factory and the Yellow Submarine. They are part of a geothermal heating system that has cut SCCC's energy costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars. "What I like about it is, it's clean," says Brian Pine, SCCC's director of buildings and grounds. "You're not burning anything. You're just transferring heat through a mechanism." The system pulls heat from ground water to heat buildings. It covers all but a couple of buildings on campus. It's one of three geothermal systems in the SUNY system, and one of the largest in the state. When SCCC created a new master plan for the college in 1997, the board decided to take a risk. To cut operating costs, it would install a geothermal heating and cooling system to replace an electric heating system that dated back to when the college was built in the 1970s. It wasn't an easy decision to make. The $10 million project included removing asbestos and replacing the ceilings in the classroom buildings. The geothermal work included digging 200 wells, each 400 feet deep; building the system's pump-house heart; installing all those underground pipes and 153 heat pumps around campus. The project began in 2000 and finished in 2001. Now SCCC's annual electricity costs are about $400,000, with total energy costs of $500,000 last year. In the 1980s and 1990s, SCCC was paying about $700,000 in electricity costs. The system is run by computer, so Pine and building supervisor George Amaral can control it from home if needed.
Keith Denner expects to pay as much as $35,000 per month this winter to heat an 1,100-unit apartment building he manages, an increase of about 50 percent over last year. But instead of panicking about it, he calls it an opportunity for his business.
Denner manages about 2,500 apartments through his company, Professional Property Management Inc. His apartments come with free heat, an amenity that has never seemed more important to tenants as it is right now, he says.
“Our rental traffic is way up – probably about 50 percent more than it has been the past two years,” Denner said. “We think that’s because people want to know they have predictability in their rental costs by not having to worry about heating costs.”
With heating costs projected to increase almost 50 percent this winter because of a sharply higher natural gas and home heating oil prices, Denner expects heating bills for his 1,100-unit Sun Prairie Apartment complex in West Des Moines to increase about $16,000 per month over last year. But he thinks increased occupancy in his units will offset that.
“Sure, heating costs are going up, but it’s certainly not a crisis situation for us,” Denner said. “For us and our tenants, we see an incredible opportunity. We expect renters can come to us and save money, and we hope to keep and attract new renters by offering this service.”
Denner is one of several people in Greater Des Moines whose businesses are improving because people are scrambling to find ways to minimize the pinch of high heating bills. One Ames home builder, HCS Builders Inc., is taking an approach similar to Denner’s by offering free heat for a year with the purchase of a new home, and it appears to be working. The company’s new home sales this past month have almost doubled from a year ago,
Heating contractors such as Bell Bros. Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. and Lozier Heating & Cooling are reporting a sales surge of high-efficiency furnaces and increased demand for furnace-cleaning services. The Fireplace Superstore in Urbandale is quickly selling out of its inventory of wood-burning stoves as people seek alternatives to natural gas.
KEEPING THEIR COOL
Besides banking on increased occupancy rates at his apartments, how does Denner keep his cool knowing that he is responsible so many people’s heating bills this winter? Because he planned ahead. Over the past 18 years, during construction of his apartments, he estimates that he spent an additional $5,000 per unit on energy-efficient appliances and materials such as thick insulation and window coverings, wood thermal-pane windows and 8-inch-thick walls.
“For all these years, I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars extra building apartments that were energy efficient, and now we’ll sed our dividends,” Denner said. “Our bills are already so reasonable to start with that we know we can pull through this winter.”
At Sun Prairie, Denner estimates heating costs were about $30 per unit each month last winter. A 50 percent increase to this cost, when spread out over the course of the year, is slightly over $15 extra per month, Denner figures. Eventually, he said, he will have to pass that increase on to his tenants, but because the amount is so minimal, he doesn’t expect it to be an issue.
“Even if I have to pass that cost on, I think they’ll be wiling to pay that for the assurance of not having to pay that bill each month,” he said.
HCS Builders launched a free heat promotion of its own last month, advertising free heat for a year with the purchase of a new home. Bob Shirk, the company’s owner and treasurer, said he is not passing heating costs on to buyers, but subtracting it from his company’s profits on each home sold through the promotion.
Shirk said he decided to try the promotion as a way to offset the usual decrease in home sales during fall, and a housing market that has shown signs of slowing. The promotion applies to houses built on speculation, not custom-built homes. These homes are located in Ankeny, Ames, Nevada and Story City.
“With all the talk about high heating costs, we thought this promotion would catch people’s attention and bring a boost to our sales at a time of the year that tends to be slower for us,” Shirk said.
Since HCS started the promotion on Sept. 22, the company has sold seven homes, almost double its normal sales during this time of the year. The free heat offer is scheduled to end Nov. 15, but Shirk said there is a possibility that the company will extend it because of its success. Currently, he expects about 15 to 20 homes to be sold with this promotion.
“The buyers can hardly believe that we’re offering this,” he said.
Shirk said there is some risk involved with paying customers’ gas bills, especially if Central Iowa has a particularly cold winter, or if individual homeowners decide to set their thermostats at incredibly high temperatures. But for the most part, he’s confident that the promotion “won’t break the bank” because the homes are built to be energy efficient with their thick walls, insulation methods and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.
“We build very energy-efficient homes, and this is a way for us to show that we stand by what we build,” he said. “This shows a real confidence from our standpoint that our houses are energy efficient and well-insulated.”
STAYING WARM
Many homeowners and business owners who are stuck with paying their own heating bills are taking measures now in hopes of lowering their expenses in the months to come.
MidAmerican Energy Co. has been inundated with requests for its free energy audits, according to Allan Urlis, the company’s director of media relations. Even though MidAmerican has hired additional employees to do energy audits, and has started scheduling appointments on Saturdays, there’s a long waiting list for this service.
“Right now, it depends on where you live,” Urlis said. “In Des Moines, you’re looking at a four- to six-week wait if you call now. That’s not bad, considering the Waterloo area is booked through the end of December.”
The energy audits, called HomeCheck or BusinessCheck, assess a building’s windows, doors and insulation levels, and the efficiency of its heating, cooling and water heating equipment. The energy auditor also collects information about energy use specific to that site, and uses all this information to make recommendations on how to save money on energy bills. During the inspection, the auditor may install energy-saving materials such as a water-heater insulation blanket, six feet of water pipe insulation and up to six energy-efficient light bulbs.
In September, Urlis said MidAmerican received 2,400 requests for energy audits, compared with fewer than 700 requests during the same month in 2004. The company began alerting its customers in August that heating costs were expected to climb this winter, and Urlis said he is glad to see so many people taking the message to heart.
“MidAmerican wants customers to use energy, but to use it wisely,” Urlis said. “The wise management of energy benefits customers and the company. If we’re managing the energy we use, we able to delay the need for additional energy infrastructure. That additional infrastructure can have an impact on rates.”
If the energy auditor recommends that a homeowner invest in new equipment or insulation to improve energy efficiency, MidAmerican offers rebates to help with these costs. The company increased the amount of those rebates in September.
Local heating contractors are also experiencing an increased demand for their services, both from customers who want to update their furnaces to more efficient models, and others who want to ensure that their existing equipment is in optimum working order.
Even though the life span for furnaces is around 18 years, many people aren’t waiting that long to update to a newer system. Gary Pennington, vice president of Lozier, said his company has been replacing furnaces that are as few as 8 years old for customers who want a higher-efficiency model.
“We’re taking out equipment that might be in good working order, but the customer wants to upgrade to that 94- or 95-percent efficiency furnace,” Pennington said. “If you’re expecting to pay out $350 to $500 per month on utilities, you could replace your units and get a return on your investment in just a few years.”
One rule of thumb Lozier shares with customers considering upgrading their energy system is to give it serious thought if their heating or cooling costs exceed $150 to $250 per month. Pennington says a person can calculate these costs by subtracting about $60 from the total utility bill to account for the utility base, or operating costs for household appliances.
Pennington estimated that the average Lozier customer spends about $6,000 to $8,000 to replace their heating and air-conditioning systems with high-efficiency models.
Bell Bros. also is “buried” with replacement installations, but also busy with furnace cleanings, according to Chuck Gassmann, the company’s vice president and general manager.
“What we’ve seen the most of is people calling in to have their furnaces cleaned and checked, and I would think we’re up 35 to 40 percent of people doing cleans and checks compared with a normal year,” Gassmann said.
Gassmann said these furnace checkups are recommended for homeowners each fall, along with air-conditioner checks in the spring. A dirty filter, burner or blower in a furnace can reduce airflow and furnace efficiency by as much as 25 percent, he said.
But when furnaces are older, sometimes a simple cleaning and checkup isn’t enough, he said.
“We tell people that if their furnace is pre-1992, it’s probably operating at an efficiency of 60 to 70 percent,” Gassmann said. “After 1992, the minimum went up to 80 percent.”
MODERN VS. OLD-FASHIONED
Gassmann estimates that about 86 percent of the builders Bell Bros. contracts with today use heating and air-conditioning units with an efficiency rating of 92 percent or above. But the company is currently working on a project with Hubbell Homes in its new “conservation community” in Waukee, Glynn Village, where each home will have a geothermal heat pump instead of a furnace. He said he expects to see more builders try this heating method in the future.
“Geothermal saves over a high-efficiency gas-heating system about 50 percent,” Gassmann said. “The installation costs of a geothermal heat pump are double when compared with a gas unit, but when you look at amortizing that additional cost over your mortgage, the energy savings the geothermal heat pump will provide will pay for itself, plus give you an extra $100 to $150 per month in savings.”
But other people are ignoring high-tech heating methods in favor of old-fashioned ones. Pennington said he’s talked with people who wanted to buy wood-burning stoves or corn burners.
The Fireplace Superstore’s inventory of wood-burning stoves is quickly being depleted by people hoping to reduce their spending on natural gas or LP fuel for heating, according to Jim Noon, the manager of the Urbandale store. He says increased sales of wood stoves across the country has caused an industry-wide shortage.
“Most dealers brought in what they thought was a season’s worth of products based on last year’s sales, but they quickly sold all these in August and September,” Noon said. “I still have four or five models in inventory, but if sales continue, I will also be sold out soon.”
Noon said the problem now is getting restocked. Factories have shipped all their inventory and can’t keep pace with market demand for the stoves, he said.
“We are having trouble getting restocked,” he said. “We’re having a banner year, but unfortunately, our year won’t be the year it possibly could have been had enough supply been available.”
Noon said many people buying wood-burning stoves live in rural areas, or somewhere where they have easy access to a supply of firewood. The cost to install a wood-burning stove with the proper pad, pipes and chimney is about $2,500 to $3,500, Noon said.
“This is just one piece of the puzzle of people trying to find alternative heat sources,” he said.
More money upfront could save you later
Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 15 November 2005
More money upfront could save you later
Sunday, November 13, 2005
You want to save energy, especially with home heating prices rising fast.
But you've done just about all a person can do with caulk and weather-stripping. You need to find other ways to save money.
Technology to the rescue. Recent innovations provide new options that are so cutting-edge you won't find them on the usual Ways to Save Energy lists. They require an outlay of cash upfront - in some cases a very large outlay - but if you're willing to take the long view, you'll make that money back over time.
We're talking about elegant up-market solutions like windows that contain krypton gas to shield you from the cold. Appliances that use one-third less power than other brands. Light bulbs so stingy with electricity that environmentalists say they can save you $36 a year. Ceramic insulation that can be brushed on walls like paint. And a home heating system that frees you from the roller coaster of gas and oil prices by using water.
Let's take a spin around the house and see how you can make it warmer and cozier the high-tech way.
Windows
Windows are the weak link in "building tight and ventilating right." Ten percent of a home's heat leaks out through the windows. Congress recognized that when it passed legislation this year that gives consumers up to a $200 credit for installing new windows.
The Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, an organization that promotes eco-friendly buildings, recommends what Cory Lowe, the group's outreach coordinator, calls a "super window." Alpen Inc., the company that makes the windows used in the institute's headquarters, calls it the "Heat Mirror."
The Heat Mirror consists of two panes of glass, each coated with an almost invisible film of silver that blocks heat, with krypton gas pumped into the space between them. The krypton slows all molecules to a lazy crawl, making for a window that doesn't feel chilled to the touch even on the frostiest mornings.
How super are these "super windows"? Check the "R" rating, which measures resistance to heat transfer (the higher the number, the better). A single-pane window has an "R" rating of 1; a 6-inch-thick slab of fiberglass insulation rates a 19. The Heat Mirror can register a 15.8, according to Molly Clarke, Alpen's vice president of operations. She says the key is Alpen's fiberglass frame. Most windows have wooden or vinyl frames.
"Fiberglass is dimensionally stable," Clarke says. "A 6-foot piece of vinyl at 100 degrees moves a third of an inch. Fiberglass doesn't."
Pella goes Alpen one pane better. Jim Stokes, regional sales manager for Pella Doors & Windows, says his company makes a window with three panes. Still, when all three are coated with a thin film and argon gas is pumped between them, the window's "R" rating is 4.3.
A standard-size Heat Mirror window runs about $700 plus labor, but the money saved in heating costs could be made back in just three years.
One study cited by the Rocky Mountain Institute found that single-pane windows resulted in an annual heating cost of $356, whereas double-pane windows coated in thin film shaved the cost to $100.
Appliances
For two years, teams from 18 universities prepared to compete in the Solar Decathlon, a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The requirements were simple: Build a solar-powered house, transport it to Washington, D.C., set it up on the Mall and live in it for a week. The teams that competed last month were graded in 10 categories of energy efficiency.
The winner in the appliances division - the team whose gadgets were sleekest and greenest - was the California Polytechnic Institute.
"We weren't looking at state-of-the-art appliances as much as state-of-the-shelf," says Cal Poly architecture professor Rob Peña, the team's faculty adviser. "We simply chose the best Energy Star appliances we could. They're all accessible to the homeowner market. What they have in common is they're very cool."
Energy Star is the light blue sticker the Environmental Protection Agency puts on energy efficient products. In 2004, Americans with Energy Star products saved enough juice to power 24 million homes while saving $10 billion in energy costs, according to the EPA.
Appliances account for about 20 percent of a home's energy consumption.
The Cal Poly team chose a 2½-cubic-foot ASKO combination washer-dryer that performs both functions in the same drum. The condenser is so efficient it sends all vapor produced during drying down the drain, so it needs no ventilation. The Energy Star folks say it's the most energy efficient washer-dryer of its size on the market. And, Peña says, it looks very cool.
It costs $1,149. But consider this: Replacing a 10-year-old washing machine with an Energy Star washer can save up to $120 per year on your utility bills, the EPA says. The ASKO uses even less power than most Energy Star washers, but even at the typical rate of savings, the ASKO can pay for itself over 10 years.
For a dishwasher, Cal Poly chose a Kitchen Aid Two-Drawer Dishwashing System. It can be programmed to wash pots and pans in one drawer and delicate items like champagne flutes in the other. Added benefit: It doesn't look like a dishwasher, "so if you're in appliance denial, you can hide it," Peña says.
The system costs $1,499, but it'll need just $300 worth of energy over its 13-year expected lifetime, according to the EPA. That's compared to the $900 you could expect from a lot of comparable dishwashers that are a whole lot cheaper, meaning you'll make your investment back in less than three years.
A typical Energy Star refrigerator-freezer will save you between $35 and $70 a year compared with a model sold 15 years ago. It uses about 1.5 kilowatt-hours per day. Sun Frost, the refrigerator-freezer three Solar Decathlon teams chose, uses about 0.5 kilowatt-hours per day, according to Larry Schlussler, owner of the Sun Frost company. (The price of a kilowatt of electricity in North Jersey fluctuates, but is approximately 10 cents.)
The Sun Frost model will set you back $2,600. Although that's far more than a typical fridge, the Sun Frost has a much longer life expectancy, Schlussler says. A typical fridge may last 15 to 20 years, but the Sun Frost can reach the wizened age of 25 or even 50 years because of its solid-state design. So, considering that the Sun Frost uses one-third the energy of similar products, the $2,200 difference between a Sun Frost and a cheaper model will be more than made up over the life of the appliance.
Light bulbs
From the sublimely expensive to the ridiculously not: Compact fluorescent light bulbs use one-third the energy of an incandescent bulb and last up to 10 times longer, according to the EPA.
In the last few years, light bulb scientists have done away with every objection homeowners have had with fluorescent bulbs - that they flicker, hum or give off a bluish light.
But the bulbs haven't caught on because they cost about $5 while regular light bulbs run less than a dollar.
The Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington-based advocacy group, is pushing their "four for the planet" program. They want homeowners to replace their four most-used 100-watt incandescent bulbs with four 23-watt fluorescent bulbs - which provide the same amount of light.
They say it'll save you $108 over three years.
"If all U.S. households did this, we'd save as much energy as is produced by 30 power plants annually," says Rozanne Weissman, the group's communications and marketing director.
Geothermal heat pump
Some folks get their heat from oil furnaces. Others get theirs from gas burners. A few trailblazers get both their heating and air conditioning from water.
In New Jersey, at a depth of 30 feet underground, the temperature is a constant 53 degrees, according to Ray Mayer of ABLEnvironmental in Point Pleasant. Geothermal heat pumps take advantage of the difference between that 53 degrees and the air temperature to cool a house in the summer and heat it during the winter.
In winter, a water solution circulating through pipes buried underground absorbs heat from the earth and carries it into the home. A pump concentrates the heat and transfers it to air circulating through the home's standard ducts.
In summer, the process provides air conditioning. Heat is taken out of the air in the house and transferred through the pump to the water pipes. The water solution then carries the excess heat back to the earth.
The only external energy required is a small bit of electricity needed to operate the pump and a fan.
The system uses about 40 percent to 60 percent less energy than standard heat systems, according to Mayer.
The initial outlay for geothermal is about $12 to $15 per square foot of living space, Mayer says. For a 3,000-square foot home, the base system is about $36,000 - $14,000 more than a good conventional system, according to Mayer.
But Mayer says his 3,000-square-foot model geothermal home in Monmouth County costs him just $30 a month for heating, air conditioning and hot water. Compare that with the $252.44 average monthly energy bill for a house in North Jersey using conventional heat and air conditioning - a figure expected to climb to $292.11 in December.
Mayer has installed about 3,000 geothermal systems. He's outfitted seven New Jersey schools and the Komodo Dragon exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo. President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, is heated and cooled by geothermal energy.
"If customers understand how it works, they'll buy it," Mayer says.
Brush-on insulation
Super Therm is a water-based coating that can be brushed, sprayed or rolled on like paint to provide a barrier against moisture, heat and cold.
It contains four ceramics in suspension. Each prevents heat loss by a different method of heat transfer - radiation (from the sun), conduction (through walls) and convection (by air).
Donald Pasternak, the New Jersey distributor of Super Therm, recommends coating the plywood under roof shingles. If that's not possible, slap some on the attic ceiling. He's using it on the inside of all the outside walls of his Florida condo and the walls and ceiling of the bathroom.
"Mold won't grow on it," said Pasternak, president of Pragmatek Building Systems Inc. in Somerset.
Super Therm claims to cut energy usage by 20 percent to 70 percent and is used by companies like United Parcel Service to keep their trucks cool in summer and warm in winter.
It's untested on the residential market, so it's hard to compare with other types of insulation, says Timothy Cappel, vice president of Superior Products, a Super Therm distributor from Kansas.
Fiberglass insulation absorbs heat and slows heat's progress through your walls and attic. Super Therm blocks the heat from leaving, Cappel says.
"We can't compare Super Therm to fiberglass using an 'R' rating," Cappel says. "The 'R' stands for resistance. The thicker the fiberglass, in theory, the longer period of time it takes for heat to move through it. But Super Therm doesn't absorb heat in the first place - it prevents absorption - so it has nothing to resist."
So far, the product has not caught on with homeowners.
"You can't buy it at Home Depot," says Doug Pearce, president of Eagle Specialized Coatings and Protected Environments in Canada, which makes Super Therm. "A $100,000 commercial project is less hassle for us than a $100 home improvement project."
Pasternak will be glad to sell you a gallon of his magical elixir for $55 plus freight. A gallon, he says, is good for covering about 100 square feet.
It usually requires two coats.
"The technology here is brilliant," Pasternak says.
E-mail:
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On the Web
aceee.org/consumerguide - Tips on appliances
ase.org/consumers - Alliance to Save Energy
eaglecoatings.net - More information on ceramic insulation wall coatings
efficientwindows.org - Information, including graphics, on high-tech windows
energystar.gov - Tips from Uncle Sam
geoexchange.org - Web site of the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium
howstuffworks.com - An explanation of how these technologies operate
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Three ways to save
Put a geothermal system in your home and you could pay $30 a month for heating, air conditioning and hot water compared with the $252.44 average energy bill for a house in North Jersey, according to a geothermal company.
Replace the four most-used 100-watt incandescent bulbs in your home with four 23-watt fluorescent bulbs and you'll get the same amount of light but save $108 in energy costs over three years, an environmental group says.
Kitchen Aid makes a two drawer dishwashing system that uses just $300 worth of energy over 13 years compared to $900 from comparable models.
Warmer winter savings offset by NIPSCO price increases
Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 15 November 2005
“We’re predicting bills to increase 43 percent if temperatures are normal in the Midwest,” said Tom Cuddy, NIPSCO’s communications manager. “The cost of natural gas has risen dramatically on the wholesale market, but our delivery fees have remained flat since 1991. Supply and demand are butting up right against each other, so prepare now for higher prices.”
Cuddy said higher NIPSCO bills and the overall cost of gas can be attributed to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which knocked several domestic refineries out of commission.
“Winter begins in November and ends in March, so we’re advising people to learn how to use energy wisely this heating season,” said Cuddy. “Our customers need to weatherize their homes now by installing weather stripping, making sure windows are closed tightly, and caulk exterior and interior windows.”
Cuddy said NIPSCO customers also are advised to enroll in the utility’s Budget Plan which equally distributes payments over a 12month period. NIPSCO also provides assistance for lower-income customers and “traditionally” waives shut-offs during the winter heating season.
“We also lowered the reconnection fee to one month which is based on estimated annual heating costs,” said Cuddy. “This goes above and beyond what’s been negotiated.”
Indiana Michigan Power customers who rely on electricity to heat their homes could make out a little better than natural gas customers. Electric heat customers can expect higher bills only with increased utility use.
“Electric rates haven’t been impacted in Indiana,” said Mike Brown, an Indiana Michigan Power representative. “We use coal and nuclear power, and only had a one percent or 68-cent increase for the first time in six years. Indiana’s fortunate because we primarily use coal and nuclear power, giving us the ninth lowest rate in the country and the lowest in Indiana.”
He thought about in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and again at the turn of the century, but switching to alternative energy is now more than a thought for Craig Harding, a former Fort Wayne resident now residing in Portland, Ore.
“I’m in training to sell alternative energy products,” said Harding. “I did research on alternative energy based on what’s going on in the world and alternative energy should be the obvious choice for everyone because all of the global issues we’re facing keep logarithmically increasing.”
Harding explained that houses once were built to take full advantage of the sun’s natural light and heating powers, and the wind’s cooling capabilities but home construction began shifting away from that as natural resources, such as fossil fuel, became available for a few pennies on the dollar. Now that the global community is reliant upon dwindling natural resources, the cost of those fuels has sharply increased and is not expected to ever go back down.
“We’re blazing through our petroleum supplies, but if we get our alternative energies and resources together and think outside the grid, we’ll have a better set of tools to deal with what life throws at us,” said Harding. “We just don’t have mental or conceptual alternatives and that’s one of our biggest problems. We want things to go in specific boxes in the western world. We don’t want to hold opposites in our hands. It’s very uncomfortable for us and people aren’t comfortable being aware or being self-sufficient. We have to get beyond ‘I work, I make money and use the money I earn to solve problems in life.’”
Harding owns and operates September Audio Studios which caters to the high-end audio and visual market. While that’s potentially lucrative, Harding is turning to alternative energy sales as a potential new career although his annual earnings are estimated to be 20 percent less than what he currently earns. Being part of the solution, however, is more appealing than making as much as he can, he said. Harding said he most likely would adapt his own residence to one that uses alternative energy versus fossil fuels and other natural resources.
“Solar water heating has the quickest payback,” he said. “You can install a solar water system for about $6,000, and then take advantage of the state and federal rebates which will be increasing next year. In the end, that system only costs you about $1,500 and it will pay for itself within three or four years.”
A local company, Geothermal Design Associates Inc., specializes in installing solar water systems and has done so for the past 22 years, explained Reva Brown, president and co-owner of the 14-yearold company.
“Geothermal is technology that uses the heat or energy from the ground by way of plastic pipes that are either put in the ground or in ponds,” said Brown. “They do heating and cooling at half the operating cost of natural gas and for a third of propane costs.”
For example, geothermal heating costs for a 2,000 square-foot ranch house with a basement is about $550 a year compared to $1,100 with natural gas or $615 with propane, explained Brown. Even though installation costs for geothermal systems can cost 10 to 30 percent more than a conventional heating system, it could pay for itself in a year in newly constructed homes or within four to five years in existing homes.
“Many people don’t know this, but northern Indiana has led the nation in geothermal technology for the past decade because we have good quality renewable ground water,” said Brown. “We have just under 10 percent of the total market, but hundreds of units are being installed.”
Brown said her company gets most of its calls after Labor Day, but phone calls have doubled in the wake of the hurricanes and increasing gas prices. Geothermal systems already have been installed at the new PBS station, Dupont Medical Center, Jorgensen and Parkview YMCAs, Lancaster Elementary School in north Wells County, a local Zesto’s ice cream shop, the Corvette Museum, SDI facilities in Whitley and Dekalb counties, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Aboite Lutheran and Christ Community churches, to name a few of the 2,000 systems Brown’s company has installed within a one-hour radius drive of Fort Wayne.
“It uses the same principle as a refrigerator,” said Brown. “Instead of using gas lines, we use water lines and it only takes about two days to install a system. And, customers can pay for it through home equity loans, in-house financing or have it added to their new home construction mortgage. This is truly cost-effective.”
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 November 2005 )
Geothermal heat on rise in work throughout region
Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 15 November 2005
Geothermal heat on rise in work throughout region Fuel costs add to appeal By Joel Baird/staff
Two PVC pipes protrude from a modest mound of dirt behind the Tinkling Springs Presbyterian Church. Soon, 29 more mounds of earth will dot the field, each one marking a well shaft.
Julian Moffett, an excavating contractor and chairman of the Fishersville congregation's building committee, is confident that tapping several hundred feet into the earth's crust will save the church money.
Without the glamor of solar panels or the dynamism of a wind turbine, geothermal energy is a well-kept secret in the Valley: The stealth player in fuel savings. Its users bank on the even, steady 50- to 60-degree temperature beneath the earth's surface.
Tinkling Spring's system was designed in concert with an ongoing expansion of the church sanctuary and will add "substantially" to its cost, Moffett said. But he's done the math. The estimated life of the system is 50 years instead of the six- to 10-year lifespan of a standard condenser unit.
He calculated that it would easily pay for itself within a decade, depending on fossil fuel prices.
"My grandparents went to this church," he said. "We're building for our grandchildren and their future. It's money well spent."
Cost savings have prompted other large users of energy to embrace geothermal systems. Tom Drake, the director of facilities for Rockbridge County schools, has overseen the conversion of three elementary schools from propane, natural gas and electric plants.
"We doubled the square footage at Fairfield Elementary in the summer of 2001, the same time we added geothermal," he said. "The utility bills only went up 1 or 2 percent."
Several Augusta County establishments have lowered utility bills by looking earthward, among them the Shenandoah Valley Water Co., Blue Ridge Community College's Administration of Justice building, and the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Verona.
The Richard Simmons Drilling Co. of Buchanan has crews devoted only to geothermal projects, including many in the Valley. Stephen Brooks, their coordinator, said that most of his clients are schools, colleges and military bases which need "long-term" energy solutions.
"(Geothermal systems) have minimum maintenance. We spec them out to have at least a 55-year life-span," he said. "In the last six months with fuel prices rising, everybody's wanting it."
For Moffett, it's just common sense.
"It's an interesting concept and a proven concept," Moffett said. "Geothermal is taking heat out of the ground or putting heat back into the ground."
For centuries, earth-bermed root cellars have protected carrots and cabbages from freezing and heat spoilage. Steady temperatures in unheated basements have long sheltered canned produce and meats.
The modern version at Tinkling Spring will make the most of heat-exchange technology to extract and concentrate heat from fluid that has moved through the 52-degree well field. The closed-loop system will circulate the cooled fluid back into the ground to soak up more heat.
In the summer, the fluid will gather the building's heat and move it underground.
"If you figure you want a 74 degree temperature year-round, you've only got to move it that 20-degree difference," Moffett said.
"Your heat exchangers aren't working as hard (as they would with outside air temperatures)."
It made sense to Bud Levin, who installed a geothermal heating and cooling system for his home along the Parkersburg Turnpike. The buried loops of pipe behind his house, the heat exchanger and ducting paid for themselves in energy savings in seven years.
"The first winter we paid $28 per month," he said. "It's the best financial investment I've ever made."
Originally published November 13, 2005
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 November 2005 )
Wind Power and Geothermal Heating
Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 15 November 2005
Couple turn to wind power
Dayton Daily News
Xenia Twp. | The electricity meter near the back door of Doug Lapchynski and Mary Jane Foos' house looks pretty ordinary, but every once in a while it does something pretty amazing.
When the wind is blowing outside and not a lot of electricity is being used inside, a little arrow in the readout window of the meter changes directions and points away from the house. It's not all that impressive until you realize that flipped arrow means Lapchynski and Foos are no longer paying the Dayton Power & Light Co. for electricity being delivered to them; instead Dayton Power & Light is paying the couple for electricity generated by their wind turbine.
Overall, the wind turbine Lapchynski and Foos built last year has been generating about 650 kilowatts of electricity per month, about one-third of their home's power. But they say winds have been unusually light this summer, and winds are higher in winter. In a normal year, they expect to average 1,000 kilowatts per month.
At 1,000 kilowatts a month, it will take about 20 years for the turbine to pay for itself, but it's not really about saving money, Foos said.
"We've got kids, three and six years old, and we want to give the world to our kids in good shape," she said. "I'm in the military, and I see people dying around the world for gas, and somebody's got to do something to stop that.
"When we started planning to build a house, we had in mind that we were going to make it energy efficient. We're not peacenik, hippy kinds of folks; we're really conservative politically, but we care about the environment. We can't solve the world's energy problems, but we do what we can within reason."
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