Energy Insider: Geothermal Heating & Cooling
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| 6/19/2009 |
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| Keeping a home or business warm during the winter and cool during the summer is getting expensive. The use of a geothermal system is one way businesses are driving their energy bills down. "The wells that are drilled have a pipe that goes all the way down 200 to 300 feet and it absorbs heat from the ground," says Lon Drevecky, President of Prairie Engineering. The new IRET building in Minot is the first building the company has ever built with geothermal. "We have 175 wells 300 feet deep under the front parking lot that drives all of the heat pumps that we have throughout the facility both residential and commercial," says Dave Pankow, IRET Director of Insurance and Construction. Residents at the building are seeing cheaper energy bills, but the benefits don`t stop there. "You`ll see no air conditioner unit. You see no residential or commercial air conditioner compressor around the property because they`re not needed so that`s a huge plus there too," says Pankow. Right down the street from the IRET building is the YMCA and while members are working up a sweat, they are being kept cool by a geothermal system that cost around $100,000 "When we looked at the payback it was roughly a seven year payback. We`re realizing anywhere from $1000 to $1500 a month saving each month on our utilities. So in the long run its going to do well for us," says Roger Mazurek, YMCA Director. The seven months of winter and five months of summer helps a geothermal system operate better. "You have to recharge your well field annually and by recharging it it means running your air conditioning in the summer so its not only heating its cooling as well. Here our balance of summer to winter weather works very well for recharging the well field," says Drevecky. As energy cost continue to rise more companies and homes will turn to geothermal. |
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