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Geothermal heating and cooling systems are becoming increasingly popular with
residential building. Geothermal systems offer many advantages over traditional
heating and cooling systems. Though geothermal system installation costs are
significantly higher than traditional home heating and cooling systems,
geothermal operating costs are extremely low. Depending upon the size of the
home, and the local terrain, an average size home can typically recover the
differential in the geothermal installation costs within 10 years.
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Geothermal Advantages
Geothermal has many advantages. First, it can provide both heating and cooling
by taking advantage of the earth’s constant temperature. Second, geothermal is
extremely efficient. For example, a geothermal heating and cooling system is 75%
more efficient than an oil based heating system. Another key geothermal
advantage is that a geothermal heating system requires virtually no fossil fuel
to operate. Geothermal heating systems are also extremely compact, typically
only requiring the space of a small refrigerator. They are also very quiet as
there are no furnaces that need to cycle on and off.
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Geothermal System Costs
Geothermal system installation costs vary with the size of the home and the
location of it. Based upon the local terrain, vertical columns or horizontal
trenches may be used to create the geothermal loop. Drilling vertical column
wells or putting in a network of horizontal pipes can cost anywhere from several
thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Inside the home, a geothermal
heat pump is required. Geothermal heat pump costs are about double the
traditional heat pump.
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Expect to pay about $2,500 per ton,
with the average home requiring 3 ton (10Kw) for adequate heating. This
translates into a $7,500 geothermal heat pump cost. Then there is the network of
duct work and/or piping required within the home for transferring the heat,
though this is required for any type of heating system. In the end, expect total
geothermal system costs of $20 to 35K.
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Though the geothermal system cost of
$20 to $35k is expensive there are a couple of key points to keep in mind.
First, a geothermal heating system qualifies for a 30% federal tax credit, thus
the net cost to you for installing a geothermal system is actually $14K to
$24.5K. Second, geothermal system operating costs are much lower than other home
heating and cooling solutions. A 2,000 square foot home, for example, can
typically be heated or cooled for less than $1 per day.
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Photo Courtesy of DRAGIN Geothermal
Drilling |
Traditional residential heating and cooling systems, on the other hand, will
typically run you $5-7 per day to operate. As a result of this huge operating
cost differential it is very possible to recoup the difference in installation
costs for a geothermal system in less than 10 years.
To conclude, though geothermal system costs are significantly higher than oil,
gas, or propane heating and cooling system costs, their extremely low operating
costs quickly make up the difference. When you consider all the other geothermal
system advantages, it is no wonder why an increasing number of homes are being
built or retrofitted with this technology.
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For information on maximizing your
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Additional Geothermal Heating and Cooling
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