When the local development company Miranda & Hardt built the Bridle Ridge Estate development in Ocean View, it added a modern feature in each of the homes. Instead of building the homes with a standard air source heat pump system, the company’s employees installed geothermal technology.
While standard air-pumping systems run inconsistent outside temperatures through a heat pump to heat a home, the electrically-efficient and environmentally-friendly geothermal systems use more consistent ground temperatures to heat and cool homes. With the continuing publication of Delmarva Power rate increases for residents and businesses, starting May 1, using the “green” technology is becoming a more popular way to conserve energy, said Frank Miranda, a partner in the Ocean View development company.
“I knew the system worked because we have similar technology used to cool machines in yogurt stores,” said Miranda, who recommends the technology to anyone looking to buy a home. “It’s a heat exchange system.”
Instead of using outside equipment, closed-loop geothermal systems run alcohol and water through a series of loops underground to transfer the ground temperature back through the pump and into the home or business. In a vertical loop system, those loops can extend underground up to 300 feet. With a horizontal loop system — in which a bigger yard is required — 8 to 10 feet underground is enough to install the loops. Both provide the same service.
Instead of using sometimes below-freezing winter air to heat a home, or scorching summer air to cool a home, a geo-thermal system transfers consistent Delaware coastal ground temperatures of 56-58 degrees back through the liquid. Through the more efficient pump, it will then heat a home in the winter and remove heat in the summer, in which case it is deposited back into the earth.
Open-loop systems use existing wells, using groundwater instead of supplied alcohol and water to transfer the ground’s temperature. These systems can be more cost effective, according to www.waterfurnace.com, a manufacturer of the systems, but both systems work in the same way.
Since there is no high-powered outside equipment, and temperature does not have to be changed dramatically, the “green” systems are about 60 percent more efficient than standard heating and cooling systems, according to Greg Allen with A&A Air Services, a local leader in the installation of the technology.
Allen, who installed the technology in his home three years ago, said his electric bill went from hovering around $325 to no more than $180 immediately after flipping the switch. Through his Route 17-based company, he said that he now installs more geothermal than standard systems and has 44 jobs pending across the shores of Delaware and Maryland.
“Air temperature changes real fast and as it drops, there’s less heat in the air you can transfer,” Allen said. “There’s four times more heat in liquid than there is in the air. With every watt you’re burning (with a geothermal system), you’re getting four free from the earth.”
Allen said, however, that the “green” systems cost about twice as much as standard systems. Bruce Mears — a Millville builder who recommends the technology for new-construction homes — said that for a 3,000-square foot home, the system usually costs about $25,000.
But there are incentives.
Standard systems use outside equipment which, especially in the coastal area, have a limited life expectancy because it is exposed to weather. Geothermal systems’ equipment sits underground and inside and lasts up to two times as long as standard equipment, Allen said.
Karen McGrath, the executive director of the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce, took that into consideration before installing a geo-thermal system into the Chamber’s renovated building near Fenwick Island last year. She said that, because the building sits just off of the beach, the Chamber previously had to replace the standard equipment every few years. With the addition to the building made at the same time as installing the new equipment — making the office one-third bigger — she said that the Chamber sees a 10 percent monthly savings in electric and she doesn’t expect to have to replace the equipment as frequently.
“Particularly in this environment, it makes a lot of sense,” McGrath said. “Moving the important parts underground and inside — it’s going to make this system cost-efficient in addition to saving energy.”
There are also rebates for Delmarva Power customers through the Delaware Energy Office, as well as federal tax credits available for using various types of “green” technology, including geothermal heating and cooling systems.
Scott Lynch — the Energy Program planner for the State Energy Office — said that residents and business owners can receive a rebate for geothermal systems of up to $3,000 based on the tonnage of the system. Call Lynch in the Dover office at (302) 739-1530 for more information or visit the office’s Web site at delaware-energy.com for more information on contractors and the rebate program.
Although the rebates will not come near covering the cost of purchasing and installing the equipment, Mears said that it is well worth the investment.
Through energy savings, he said, the equipment will pay itself back in five years and home buyers can have the option of rolling the cost into a 30-year mortgage. In that case, the return on energy savings will likely exceed that of the equipment’s cost in the monthly mortgage bill. Not to mention the fact that the “green” technology is more environmentally-friendly and helps reduce the dependence on standard sources of energy, Mears added.
“I’m recommending it to everybody,” he said. “We’re successfully getting one out of two people to use geothermal. If you’re going to build a home and own it more than five years, it’s ridiculous not to do it.”
— This is the first of a three-part series appearing in the Coastal Point in the next three weeks, exploring alternative sources of energy. Next week, the Coastal Point will look into solar power. On March 24, it will look into wind-powered systems. And on March 31, the paper will look into other, more general, ways to save on energy costs.