A geothermal heat pump is an ideal year-round system for almost every home. If you now have an old heat pump, you will be amazed at how comfortably warm the heat is from a geothermal heat pump. In the summer, it can provide plenty of low-cost cooling, even on the hottest afternoons.
These systems are extremely efficient. In the winter, for each $1 on your utility bills, you get up to $4 worth of heat ($3 free heat from the earth). Basically, a geothermal heat pump uses the ground around your house for its heating and cooling capacity. Over its life, a geothermal heat pump can save thousands of dollars and be less expensive than oil or propane.
In the summer, the savings are also great. Whereas your old central air-conditioner may have an efficiency of 8.0, some geothermal heat pumps have efficiencies as high as 20, Even more important is the steady cooling capacity for comfort and good dehumidification (for allergy sufferers).
A Belleville-based heating and cooling company has been honored for the second year in a row for being a pioneer in an energy efficient, environmentally friendly method of climate control.
Sigman Heating and Cooling got a Quality Home Comfort Award from Contracting Business magazine for its use of geothermal air conditioning and heating systems in homes and businesses.
"Geothermal heating and cooling has been around for 20 years or so, but not many people know about it," said John Sigman, owner of the company that bears his name. "But with heating fuel prices at record highs, I think it is going to become very popular.
Sigman won the award because of "the company's commitment to quality and innovative ability to provide and install state-of-the-art geothermal systems," according to Ron Rajecki, executive editor of Contracting Business.
Geothermal heating systems use the warmth of soil to heat water that is then circulated throughout radiant pipes in the floor of a house, office or factory. They can even be run beneath pavement to melt snow in a driveway or on a sidewalk. Pipes that are run 70 feet deep below the surface tap 55-degree soil temperatures to provide cooling in the summer.
In addition to several houses, Sigman installed the system in a new Little Caesar's pizza restaurant in Belleville to cool the heat from the ovens indoors and to melt snow in the drive-through lane outside.
JAMES CITY -- Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools may add a $1.3 million geothermal heating and cooling system back into the plans for the third high school, after the Board of Supervisors suggested looking into it at their Tuesday meeting.
Though the $1.3 million cost would be in addition to the $51.4 million W-JCC now projects the third high school to cost, the energy-efficient system could pay for itself within 10 years, according to a report by Moseley Architects.
MILLBROOK — Environment-friendly technologies that have been put to use will be displayed throughout the Hudson Valley Saturday.
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's fourth annual Green Building Open House will showcase houses and businesses that have been modified to include energy-efficient materials and equipment.
SINGAPORE : With world oil prices now hovering around US$65 per barrel, more countries are beginning to worry about long-term energy security.
At a forum at the Global Entrepolis, some industry watchers said another oil crunch could come when the world starts scrambling for fast-depleting oil resources.
And that could push oil prices past US$100 per barrel.
Peter Cockcroft, Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of East Asian Studies, said: "There's a long term demand increase. Frankly, we are not finding enough oil to replace the oil that we are consuming now. The cost of finding new oil is going to be a lot higher than previously. I think we are going to have demand, consumer demand for the barrel of oil. I believe that in the next decade, they will look back and see that today's price in the US$60 range was very cheap."
Another speaker pointed to a possible challenge from India to Singapore's position as a regional refining hub.
Dave Ernsberger, Editorial Director, Platts - Asia, said: "The rise of India as a major oil power is different from the rise of China. India's oil demand is not growing the way China's oil demand is growing. So, India is investing heavily, probably in some ways, even more successfully than China is, in things like refining capacity. What that means for the region here is that it is emerging as a competitor in some ways, with the swing producing countries here, Singapore actually." -
Sept. 30, 2005 — Question: With oil and natural-gas prices so high, I'm thinking about looking at alternative energy sources to heat my home. What do I need to know?Write Comment (0 Comments)
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