231. Geothermal 101 - How to heat your home with 400% efficiency

hi I'm David Dodd welcome to Green Energy Futures geothermal is really a Back to the Future technology a way of heating and cooling our homes that's been around for quite some time but now seems poised to really take off hi my name is Devin winsura and I'm the founder of Envirotech geothermal and we're here today in our shop that we operate out of just outside of Sherwood Park and we're standing in front of a geothermal unit that we commonly use in residential practices Devin started Envirotech geothermal with his sister in 2006. I'm looking at about 20 heat pumps that are going into people's homes here in the next couple months so the market and the industry is really growing and we're excited to be part of it people are starting to gravitate to geothermal heating systems says Steve ozlanski yeah it's very interesting you know we're seeing a lot of people contact us in regards to you know wanting to find more efficient ways to heat and cool their homes not only from a comfort perspective but also the cost perspective as well a lot of the customers that are contacting us they actually feel very passionate about the environment as it turns out geothermal is one of a very few ways you can heat your home with few or no emissions and people are starting to do this even in the northern climate of Edmonton Alberta so what does it look like in your home it turns out the 400 foot deep boreholes will disturb only about half of your front yard so we bring a drilling rig in whether it's the front or the backyard it depends where your car your utilities come in now we will drill a certain amount of boreholes we depends on the size of your home average for a home would be four to five boreholes and we come in we drill it we tie it into a header which would look just like that these two pipes coming up here would come in through your into your home and tie into a heat pump just like this if you look behind these signs here there is eight pipes coming in there and there's eight pipes coming in on this other side as well so all that means is that there was eight boreholes drilled for this shop those eight pipes absorb the heat from the earth which is actually quite low anywhere from zero to six degrees Celsius then the magic happens in the heat pump which extracts heat from those cool temperatures and then upgrades it to heat Devon's shop via hydronic pipes in the floor this tank behind me here this is an indirect domestic hot water tank so what it does is it uses the same circuit that's heating the shop floor there's in floor lines here and it's got a coil inside of here that then Heats your domestic hot water we can control that temperature just by setting a set point inside the unit Devon's system Heats his shop through a hydronic Loop in the floor but heat pumps can also simply replace existing forced air furnaces so I'll show you over here we have another forced air unit this is very common in residential homes again geosmart premium G this is a forced air unit so inside here is your fan full variable speed fan and then this is your air coil where your Refrigeration will either be warm or cold based on the set points and then on this side panel you can see the refrigeration circuit a little bit better we have a compressor back in here and we have a TXV we have a filter dryer here's your TXV here this is what meters and this is your ground Loop coax heat exchanger here so your ground Loop water comes through here and your Refrigeration circuit is also wrapped within this insulation and that's where the magic happens that's the exchange of your heat from your ground Loop so this is what makes it a ground Source heat pump Darren and Darcy Christian upgraded the insulation air sealing and added solar to their 1960s Bungalow in Edmonton the last step was to replace a very old furnace with a geothermal system the last straw happened during the heat Dome and 37 degree temperatures in the summer of 2021 when the Christians realized geothermal systems also provide air conditioning there's no limitations to what geothermal can do any type of Heat or the hydronic whether it's forced air domestic hot water and we could do it all so it's uh it's for everybody as Steve explains your gas connection is no longer required if you're installing in a new build you don't have to pay for all those natural gas components up front you don't have to buy a furnace you don't have to buy a boiler for your hydronic heating you don't need to buy domestic hot water tank or any air conditioners or even add garage units into that mixture as well so we provide solutions that pretty well replace your full mechanical system from a conventional standpoint and replace it with a geothermal heating and cooling system in essence a geothermal system can provide all your heating cooling and hot water needs which is worth keeping in mind when you consider the cost which can be in excess of thirty thousand dollars instead of paying a gas company you're paying for your geothermal so it gives people the comfort that their system is now not only great for the environment but extremely efficient so no more gas bill and now you own your own utility so with payback period it is we tread lightly with it it is a very common question and we've seen payback periods as fast as eight years we've seen them go 20 years it is very based on installation and the price of natural gas which keeps moving and now we know which way it's moving so the higher natural gas prices just go the faster your payback period will be and we as a company believe that you know we're going to see 10-year paybacks with interest-free loans available from the federal government or through Pace like programs in cities like Edmonton you will no longer be out of pocket each month more than usual but in as few as 10 years the system is paid for and the real savings begin for green Energy Futures I'm David Dodge [Music]

Channel: Green Energy Futures

Views: 8,880

Keywords: Green Energy Futures

Id: 5gmFk_TgLrw

Length: 6min 23sec (383 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 05 2023