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4 Reasons You Need a Geothermal Heating and Cooling System Now

4 Reasons You Need A Geothermal System Now

Let’s be honest, there are more than 4 reasons to install the best heating and cooling system available, according to the EPA, but how many do you need when this system can give you piece of mind, comfort, and cost savings?

The perks of installing a geothermal system are endless, but lets start with these 4:

4. Geothermal is Clean & Invisible. What the……you ask? A great benefit of geothermal is it is clean, and you don’t even know it’s there. Clean, as in there is no onsite combustion of fossil fuel to heat your home. You may have a natural gas furnace that emits carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, volatile organic compounds as well as other nitrous oxides but geothermal does not.  And invisible as in there is no loud, ugly, outside air conditioner ruining your beautiful outside aesthetics because inside, the (GSHP) ground source heat pump is operating quietly and efficiently. You know that loud hum you hear when your neighbor’s 12-year-old air conditioner kicks in while are enjoying the fruits of your labor in the backyard. It makes a difference!

Geothermal Installation Geothermal Drilling, Firestone 80603
Geothermal system being installed in yard of home

3. Geothermal gives you comfortable heating, cooling, and can even pre-heat your domestic hot water heater! Simply put, in the winter warmth is drawn from the ground through a loop carrying a water solution to a heat pump (GSHP) inside your home. The GSHP concentrates the Earth’s thermal energy and transfers it to air circulated through duct work or radiant heat in flooring. In the summer, the process is reversed and heat is extracted from the air inside your home and transferred back to the ground. As an added bonus, the waste heat from the compressor can be used to preheat water for your hot water heater! That’s comfort and cost savings!

Geothermal Vertical Loop
Geothermal ground source heat exchange

2. Did you know that having solar or geothermal is not an either/or scenario but are actually a great compliment to each other? As you already know, solar power is using the sun to create power and geothermal systems can be a great compliment to them. A geothermal system can save you money because for every unit of energy used to power the system, 3-5 units are supplied as heat. Where a fossil fuel furnace may be 78-80% efficient, a geothermal heat pump is about 400% efficient! So you can power your home and heat pump with the sun and heat and cool it with the bountiful, stored energy in your yard! Planned correctly, you can get to net zero, where the total amount of energy used by your home on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on site. Check out more about that here!

Geothermal Savings
Geothermal Savings

1. Geothermal will save you money! Until December 31, 2019, the federal government is offering renewable energy tax credits for geothermal heating and cooling systems. The credit is a 30% tax savings for installations through the end of December 2019. It starts to decrease in 2020. This tax credit coupled with energy efficient operation of a geothermal system yield big savings for homeowners! Also, utility companies are offering exclusive rebates for installing energy efficient equipment. For example, in Colorado, United Power and Tri-State G & T are offering $200/ton and $500/ton respectively! An average 3000 square foot house might have a 4-ton ground-source geothermal system in it, yielding a rebate of $2800! Add in the federal tax credit and homeowners are seeing great savings that quickly offset the initial difference in purchase price.

The perks of having a geothermal system are abundant and now is a great time to get an energy efficient, environmentally friendly, ecoluxury geothermal system for a price close to a conventional system!

As Owner and Vice President of Colorado Geothermal Drilling, Kari Rau has a passion for spreading the efficacious benefits of geothermal because she likes getting people excited about the things she’s excited about. Her aptitudes are vast, from blogging about energy efficiency and saving money to amplifying green business with her husband and managing their charming mile high properties. In addition to running two esteemed businesses, Kari sits on the Steering Committee of the Brighton Business Builders and enjoys spending time with her family outdoors.

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The Geothermal Gossiper: Case Study – First Universalist Church

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Colorado Geothermal Drilling was proud to be apart of a project with First Universalist Church. Thanks to Lightly Treading for sharing this video.

It is so fantastic to see a group come together with a mission of creating a better environment at their place of worship. With valuable input from their members they made their place of worship environmentally friendly, sustainable, energy efficient, and net zero! With proper design and planning it CAN be done!

It was a pleasure to be a part of this project!

Kari Rau is Chief Idea Officer at Colorado Geothermal Drilling, a Geothermal Gossiper, Serial Chips and Queso Addict, and World’s Okayest Mom. Follow me on social media to see what we are up to!

Instagram @cogeothermaldrilling

Facebook @COGeothermal

Twitter @CoGeoDrilling

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The Net Zero Revolution and What You Need to Know Now

By Kari Rau

With media coverage of popular buzz words like ‘climate change’, ‘be green’, ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘carbon neutral’, etc. it can be difficult to manage and comprehend the ever-changing renewable energy mantra.

Having a Net Zero home is increasing in popularity as more people want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and the grid and build sustainable, efficient homes. The definition of net zero means “the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on site”, according to the World Green Building Council.

One of the first things to consider if this is attainable for you is to evaluate your utility energy usage and determine effective ways to reduce it. This part is often overlooked by consumers since residential solar and wind are marketed so heavily to easily and quickly turn your home into a clean energy burning machine. While these renewables will absolutely offset you reliance on the electrical grid, it is also important to examine your current energy usage and determine ways to decrease it.

what we do

“After all, decreasing your overall energy usage saves you money and can help control the size of the renewable system you want to install”

Two thirds of the average home’s energy bills come from heating, cooling, and hot water. You are spending a lot of money to heat and cool your home and heat your hot water heater! Do you have the most efficient system installed? A geothermal system is the most energy efficient heating and cooling system there is. Check out this video for a quick explanation here. It uses heat from the earth, by way of geothermal loops to heat and cool your home. Simply put, in the winter warmth is drawn from the earth through a loop carrying a water solution to a heat pump inside the home. The heat pump concentrates the earth’s thermal energy and transfers it to air circulated through duct work or to radiant heat in flooring. In the summer, the process is reversed and heat is extracted from the air inside your home and transferred to the big heat sink in your yard (the earth) by way of the geothermal loops. As an added bonus, the waste heat from the compressor can be used to heat water for bathing, cooking, washing, etc. Sounds fantastic doesn’t it? There’s more!

Another great benefit of geothermal is it is clean and you don’t even know it’s there! Clean, as in there is no onsite combustion of fossil fuels in your home! And invisible as in there is no loud, ugly, outside air conditioner ruining your outside aesthetics in the summer and inside, the heat pump is about the size of a furnace yet operates quietly and efficiently. So you get quiet, comfortable, safe, efficient, environmentally friendly because you are reducing your carbon footprint, AND saving money. A geothermal heat pump can save you money because for every unit of energy used to power the system, 3-4.5 units are supplied as heat. Where as a fossil fuel furnace may be 78-90% efficient, a geothermal heat pump is about 400 percent efficient!

To continue to plan a comfortable, energy-efficient home and decrease your overall energy usage try installing LED lights and Energy Star rated appliances. Take a good look at how you live in your home. Focus on what you really you use and how to make it as efficient as possible. For those of you that love your gas stove, I challenge you to try an electric induction cook top. Every bit as efficient as gas but safer! You can live with out natural gas hooked up to your home!

Installing energy efficient doors and windows, and adding adequate insulation in your exterior walls and roof also can keep your utility bills down. You may want to also evaluate passive solar building design where you look at windows, walls, and floors and their ability to collect, store, reflect and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This too will aid you in achieving a net zero home and decrease the overall size of your renewable system(s) as well as your impact on Mother Nature.

Kari Rau is Chief Idea Officer at Colorado Geothermal Drilling, Influence Executive Colorado Geothermal Drilling, Geothermal Enthusiast, Advocate for Womenprenuers and Small Business, & Serial Chips and Queso Addict.

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Colorado Geothermal Home Retrofit in Todd Creek, CO 80602

In 2010, we retrofitted our 4773 square foot (including 75% finished basement) home in suburban Denver. The home was built in 2000 with conventional construction, nothing over the top as far as insulation, windows, and efficiency go.

Shortly after moving in we had a blower door test done and learned about where we had insulation inefficiencies throughout the home. We added more insulation to the attic taking it from an R-30 to R-60. The basement was unfinished at the time so we made sure it was adequately insulated as well and increased the minimal R-13 insulation to a R-21. We also had all ductwork sealed which reduced air leakage from 20% to less than 3%.

Connecting geothermal loops to bring into home.

For the geothermal residential retrofit we drilled eight 300-foot loops on the North side of the home. We planned ahead and added additional loops for a future 1990 square foot metal shop we were going to build in the next few years. All eight loops were manifolded into a common header and connected to the 5-ton geothermal water to air heat pump in the home as well as a 5-ton geothermal water to water heat pump for the shop. The pumping system utilizes high efficiency ECM pumps that save approximately 70% of the energy typically used with a common pumping system.

The shop was built with radiant tubing in 5 inches of concrete all spaced 6 inches apart and batt insulation in the walls and ceiling at R-25. There is a total of just under 4000 feet of 1/2 inch pex tubing for the radiant floor heating system. Sixteen loops approximately 250 feet long each made up the radiant floor which allowed the geothermal system to operate at a lower temperature for heating and reduces heating costs in the worst months of the winter. The shop averages about $20-30 per month while the house averages about $60 a month for heating and cooling. The only natural gas used in the home is for 2 gas fireplaces, used for aesthetics only.

Geothermal Retrofit Todd Creek
Home Retrofit

The comfort level and overall aesthetics of the geothermal system are what we as homeowners love the most. The three level home can easily be warmed up or cooled down very quickly, is quiet and extremely comfortable. And with lots of outdoor family time, the loud, outside air conditioning condenser is not missed! Installing the most energy efficient heating and cooling system can be done in all types construction. Retrofits are very successful and will save the homeowners money when designed and installed appropriately.

Kari Rau is co-owner and VP at Colorado Geothermal Drilling and CEO and owner at HGB Home Co. LLC. She holds the title of World’s Okayest Mom, is a serial chips and queso addict, and loves to gossip about geothermal to anyone who will listen.