Everyone is looking for practical and affordable ways to help the environment. Yes, pollution is at an all time high and global warming is very real. While governments around the world investigate ways to regulate industries to minimize the effects of modern living, even individual homes and small business could take advantage of the new Eco Furnace green revolution.
One such way in doing this is to install a geothermal heating/cooling system.
Here are the ways that eco-friendly geothermal heating and cooling systems help the environment.
- Eco-friendly HVAC systems are geothermal and this means they reduce the use of chemical refrigerants because they do not use the traditional geothermal lines to the outside; instead opting to loop water pipes underground.
- Eco-friendly HVAC systems also eliminate combustion related heating in the home, capitalizing on solar heating of the earth to generate and insulate heat, seasonally.
- These systems also use waste heat from the compressor for the purpose of domestic water heating (instead of sending it out, into the environment, through an exhaust). This reduces the environmental impact of combustion or electric domestic water heating.
- Reduces electrical consumption when compared against other heating or cooling systems, which results in fewer power plant emissions (for example).
- A reduction in noise pollution (because of fewer outside equipment typically resulting in cycling noises and distractions).
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Ground source heating and cooling can be done almost anywhere in the United States using a geothermal heat pump, a highly efficient renewable energy technology that takes advantage of the constant temperature of the earth beneath the surface. The heat pump transfers heat stored in the Earth or in ground water into a building during the winter, and transfers it out of the building and back into the ground during the summer. In other words, the ground acts as a heat source in winter and a heat sink in summer. Applications of this technology are for space heating and cooling and hot water.”
Of course, installing a geothermal system is only one strategy an individual or business can take to improve their environmental impact. Be sure to consider other options—like pellet stoves, active solar heating, and hybrid solar air conditioning—to continue reducing your carbon footprint and improve quality of life.
