Is Geothermal Energy the Next Solar?

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// What are Geothermal Heat Pumps?
A geothermal heat pump or ground source heat pump (GSHP) is a central heating and/or cooling system that transfers heat to or from the ground.

It uses the earth all the time, without any intermittency, as a heat source (in the winter) or a heat sink (in the summer). This design takes advantage of the moderate temperatures in the ground to boost efficiency and reduce the operational costs of heating and cooling systems, and may be combined with solar heating to form a geosolar system with even greater efficiency. They are also known by other names, including geoexchange, earth-coupled, earth energy systems. The engineering and scientific communities prefer the terms "geoexchange" or "ground source heat pumps" to avoid confusion with traditional geothermal power, which uses a high temperature heat source to generate electricity.[1] Ground source heat pumps harvest heat absorbed at the Earth's surface from solar energy. The temperature in the ground below 6 metres (20 ft) is roughly equal to the mean annual air temperature[2] at that latitude at the surface.

Depending on latitude, the temperature beneath the upper 6 metres (20 ft) of Earth's surface maintains a nearly constant temperature between 10 and 16 °C (50 and 60 °F),[3] if the temperature is undisturbed by the presence of a heat pump. Like a refrigerator or air conditioner, these systems use a heat pump to force the transfer of heat from the ground. Heat pumps can transfer heat from a cool space to a warm space, against the natural direction of flow, or they can enhance the natural flow of heat from a warm area to a cool one. The core of the heat pump is a loop of refrigerant pumped through a vapor-compression refrigeration cycle that moves heat. Air-source heat pumps are typically more efficient at heating than pure electric heaters, even when extracting heat from cold winter air, although efficiencies begin dropping significantly as outside air temperatures drop below 5 °C (41 °F).[citation needed] A ground source heat pump exchanges heat with the ground. This is much more energy-efficient because underground temperatures are more stable than air temperatures through the year. Seasonal variations drop off with depth and disappear below 7 metres (23 ft)[4] to 12 metres (39 ft)[5] due to thermal inertia. Like a cave, the shallow ground temperature is warmer than the air above during the winter and cooler than the air in the summer. A ground source heat pump extracts ground heat in the winter (for heating) and transfers heat back into the ground in the summer (for cooling). Some systems are designed to operate in one mode only, heating or cooling, depending on climate.

Geothermal pump systems reach fairly high coefficient of performance (CoP), 3 to 6, on the coldest of winter nights, compared to 1.75–2.5 for air-source heat pumps on cool days.[6] Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are among the most energy-efficient technologies for providing HVAC and water heating.[7][8]

Setup costs are higher than for conventional systems, but the difference is usually returned in energy savings in 3 to 10 years, and even shorter lengths of time with federal, state and utility tax credits and incentives.

[DaveDugdaleColorado]

My sister has had it for about 25 years in NH, she said it was the best money she has ever spent.

[hiteshbhatt]

Excellent video.
I just had a geothermal system put in my home about a month ago. Very glad to remove the oil/diesel furnace and pollution from my house in MA.

[lennartandersson]

Just met with Dandelion this weekend. Getting their engineer here next week. State credit of 6k + 11k federal tax credit. Con ed gives another 5k to get off gas so the upfront cost is not that bad here in NY. Very exited to get off fossil fuels while saving money. :)

[marcusberglund]

Hmmms... We’ve been doing this tech in Sweden for the last 20 yrs... typical installation cost is $15000 with a 220m deep hole and a Daikin Geothermal heatpump.

[jetjdm]

Hey Ben! Great to hear you speak on geothermal. Tesla MX owner, Mechanical Contractor business owner in PA, with solar and geothermal in home and solar at our business. Been doing geothermal since 1988 and solar. Happy to provide further details or information in the future if you ever need? Great stuff man!

[glenngoodale]

I expect your videos every week, it's better than a movie, you learn a lot and it's very entertaining. Greetings from Florida

[cawfeedawg]

FINALLY someone is trying to bring this to scale in the US. Northern Europe is way ahead on this technology.

[Jonathan_Blatter]

Hier in Swizerland. it is almost a comen system to use for Heating. mainly onnly for heating, not for cooling

[StevenMalatesta]

This is awesome Ben! Thanks for the exposure on something Ive been very curious about. North East homeowner here (Cape Cod) and will definitely look into geo-therm.

[Astronomine]

We have a 6 km deep geothermal well being built in Finland (drilled already), it's going to be interesting to see how that turns out once they get it running. In 6 km water gets hotter than boiling point.

[NordicProspecting]

We have had this Sweden for a very long time, it's almost standard for people to install this.

[JohanEinevik]

In combination with solar, this is gold!

[JoseVargas-dxwz]

Absolutely amazing idea, interview and interviewed! I loved when you asked about how the idea came to her and her team. That is the kind of info that makes interesting projects like this more interesting. Also she seems in subject all the time and very prepared and conciuous of what the problem is and how their idea tacleds it and teh posibility and, of course, she got me with her first laught!

[adrian.farcas]

The naming "geothermal energy" is confusing - "Geothermal heat pumps" or "ground source heat pumps" are preferred by scientist and engineers to avoid confusion with traditional geothermal power (or geothermal energy), which uses a much high temperature heat source (usually extracted from greater depths through wells - so essentially coming from the depths of our planet) to generate electricity and/or district heating (more or less like a traditional thermal power plant that uses fossil fuel).
In contrast, the geothermal heat pumps actually harvest (indirectly) solar energy - the heat absorbed at the Earth's surface from the Sun (and the atmosphere). The temperature in the ground below 6 metres is roughly equal to the mean annual air temperature at that latitude at the surface (even down to 500 ft is only very marginally higher than this - usually one has to go much deeper to harvest true geothermal energy). This temperature however is too low for direct use, so the heat pump is used to raise it (using electricity) to a level that is suitable for heating - all in all, such a system is about 3x more efficient than using electrical power alone for heating.

[erikpersson]

Hi Ben and thanks for a bit another video. ive been working in this fiels in at least 3 dacades as supplier, contarctor, service engineer and nowadays as consultant. There is a lot to talk about but I prefer to focus on a few important subjects here. Here in Sweden its the obvoius way to heat buildings i youre not connected to a district heating system (district colling also obvios in many towns here). The climate during the heating season lets say Oct - Apr is suprisely similar in many places in the world. When designing a bore hole witch is the most common we calculate with 10W/m collector lengh. In larger plants we use multiple holes down to150 - 200m depth. You need a permit from the municipality and they look at the gounds capabillity to lead heat, too many holes can lead to a lower themperaturere witch an decreased performance as result. This is more and less sasonstored solar energy more the so called thermal energy. The ground works as a buffer. You have to bore though solid rock layers with some water. In most cases you have a layer of sand of soil with is too insulating and not usuable so for the hole between the surface and solid rocks you use a plastic pipe in order to lead the collector hose in. The COP depends primary on the differance between the cooled and heated media, also on the design of the heat pump itself but much more important how it works with the heating system and how its controlled. Other common heat sources are outdoor or exhaus air as well as industrial heat loss from different processes. In most climates the heat pump is designed to cover the heating demand to about 0˚C outdoor temperature witch cover about 75% of the heating energy demand. Well just a few things about it so far ...

[aquasurfer]

Being in HVAC, I wish her the best. I see the future with minisplit type technology that can heat at -10 deg F now. Using high grade windows R3+, foam insulation and air cooled heatpumps with solar panels is pretty cheap. I am currently replacing water source heatpumps that have had alot of maintenance on them. The problem is leaks that can form in the long piping. Another problem than can happen in geothermal if the ground is dry is the ground heats around the holes since earth is a great insulator and over time raises the temperature around the heat dissipators (loops in the ground). The solar arrays cost 80 cents a watt ( I did a 7kw DIY myself in Austin in December). It has produced 1.4mwh since Dec 13th 2018. It cost $5400 and offsets my 4 ton heatpump completely on a sunny day. The geothermal needs water pump, safety features to stop the flow of water. Minisplits by Daikin and others go to 36 seer and heating efficiency ratios are past 12 meaning $120 of electric heat is $10 using this heatpump technology.
The last few years, that low temp heating at -10F using minisplits inverter technology competes with natural gas heat. They also are air conditioners. My 4 ton 18 seer 5 year old heatpump uses 2800 watts when running and my 7kw array puts out over 5kw on even slightly cloudy days.
Heating water is best doen by evacuated tubes with a drainback system. They work by absorbing uv light into the inner tube (converting uv light to Infrared energy). Infrared does not go through a vacuum. Inside the inner tube has a tube with pure water and a partial vacuuum in a copper tube with the bulb on the top. The 5 foot copper tube is essentially a steam engine. Boiling point of the water is 50 deg F and transfers to the heat exchanger. You will see these type water heaters all over the world except the US as the Big Oil created rules where they forced flat plate heat exchangers that are 70% efficient vs 95% for evacuated tubes. The couple that just were in Antarctica used this evacuated tube tech to heat their water.

[mvander]

I have a Dandelion system in upstate NY, I wanted a geothermal system since I moved into my current home 9 years ago. I was quoted from 40-50k each time. Outside my budget, my dandelion system was 20k.
I have had my Dandelion system for almost 2 years and it has been the best investment.

[MrToyorick]

Its old technique, in Sweden we had it for at least 30 years and the best gain of energy is when you drill 500-700 feet, and use 50% ethanol to circulate in the system . My system is a CTC Gsi 13 Kw inverter controlled, and we heat the house and all water and the pool :-) is efficiency is like put in 1$ and get 5$ out in energy 😁
The system cost is around 10k.

[flyboypat]

Great interview. I've been interested in geothermal heat pumps systems be for several years. It's good to see someone working on making it more affordable for the masses.

[jorgebalarezo]

I think is great you are giving more options to solar and batteries, keep it like that always with your touch of data mining, not only talking like most of channels do. Keep it up !