Geothermal

Heating & Cooling

Iba Drilling Co., Inc.

saving $ for schools, government, commercial, churches and homes

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How it Works
A loop field
How it works in winter
How it works in summer
Like a refrigerator

Geo Exchange
Calculating Costs

GeoExchange Case Studies

About Iba Drilling
Resume
Past Ground Source
Cathodic Protection

Benefits

The EPA says it's the most efficient, environmentally clean and cost-effective space conditioning system available.

International Ground Source Heat Pump Association

HVAC Comparison for schools from GeoExchange


	Castelar School, Omaha, Nebraska During construction - (upper left) Drilled 180 bores each 205' deep in a grid that is buried 6' below the surface and headered into the school mechanical room. After - the loop field is buried below the playground and lawn to the left of the school.

Ground source heating and cooling is a high-comfort, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly technology that takes advantage of the Earth's capacity to store energy in the form of heat. Geothermal heat pump systems use no fuel, but rather move heat from the earth into a building, or from a building back into the earth. We call this GeoExchange! A small amount of electricity is used to operate the pumps, fans, controls, and small refrigerator-like compressor, which along with the heat exchangers are the major components of the ground source heat pump.

The geothermal heat pump accomplishes its heating and cooling tasks by obtaining heat through a connection to the earth known as an earth loop or ground loop. The ground loop consists of a piping system circulating a water/antifreeze mixture from the earth to the geothermal heat pump and back. Because of the compressor in the heat pump the ground temperature need not be especially warm and these ground loop systems will perform efficiently virtually everywhere in the U.S.

Since only a very small amount of electricity is consumed by a geothermal heating and cooling system to move the heat from the earth to the building (or vice-versa) and no fuel is burned, it is possible to calculate a "pay out period" for the purchase of the GeoExchange^SM system. Gas, propane, oil and electric heating and cooling systems can never pay out because there is a constant and significant fuel cost.

How does the cost of heating with a GeoExchange compare to other heating methods?

The answer to this depends on local rates for electricity and other fuels. The comparison involves the efficiency of the device, the type of fuel used and the cost of that fuel.

Commonly used heating fuels have the following approximate heating content:

Fuel oil - 138,000 Btu/gal
Propane - 90,000 Btu/gal
Natural gas -100,000 Btu/therm(1,000 Btu/ft^³)
Electricity - 3,413 Btu/kWh

A common index of the cost of heat is "dollars per 1,000,000 Btu of useful heat." In order to calculate useful heat (heat actually delivered to the house), it's necessary to adjust for the efficiency of the heating device and the cost of the fuel. The following equations can he used for this purpose:

Fuel oil 7.25 x $/gallon
efficiency Efficiency
Old - .65
New std. - .78
Moderate - .84
High - .92

Propane 11.1 x $/gallon
efficiency

Natural gas 10.0 x $/therm
efficiency

Electric resistance 293 x $/kWh

Air Source Heat Pump
(ASHP) 293 x $ /kWh
COP COP
Warm climate - 2.5
Cold climate - 1.8

Ground Source Heat Pump
(GSHP) 293 x $ /kWh
COP COP
Warm climate - 3.9
Cold climate - 3.4
Hydronic - 4.2

As an example, let's look at a location in a moderately cold climate where the fuel costs are as follows:

Electricity, $0.07/kWh; fuel oil, $2.30/gal; propane, $1.50/gal; and natural gas, $01.10/therm. This is using calculations assuming you have a moderately efficient (84%) furnace. This would result in the following useful heat costs:

Electric resistance $20.51

Propane $!9.82

Air source HP $11.39 (1.8 COP)

Fuel oil $19.85

Natural gas $13.09

Ground source HP $6.03 (3.4 COP)

Compared to these fuel prices, ground source heating/ cooling would cost 30-46% less than other fuels.

A recent study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that GeoExchange systems generally have the lowest life-cycle cost of all systems available today. The study also shows that GeoExchange systems have the lowest impact on our environment. Consumers rank their comfort and satisfaction with GeoExchange systems higher than all others. While a higher initial investment is required, the investment is paid back through low energy bills (enhancing resale value), excellent family safety, and supreme comfort.

Geothermal Heating & Cooling

	Geothermal also known as GeoExchange and Ground Source Heat Pumps (GHP's) have been around for over two decades and is now a well proven and reliable technology.
	Geothermal Systems uses the Earth's natural energy storage capability to heat and cool buildings, and provide domestic hot water.
	Geothermal Systems can also do the following, make ice, provide refrigeration, do snowmelt and provide hot water for radiant floor heating.
	The earth is a huge energy storage device that absorbs 47% of the sun's energy. This is more than 500 times more energy than mankind needs every year in the form of clean renewable energy.
	As stated by the EPA: Geothermal Heat Pumps are the most energy efficent, environmentally clean, renewable and cost effective space conditioning systems available.
	Government studies have shown that Geothermal systems have the lowest life-cycle costs and lowest impact on the environment of any system available.
	Geothermal systems if designed and installed properly will typically decrease a buildings energy and maintenance cost by 50 - 60%.
	You see dirt rock or water, we see an endless supply of renewable energy.