Money sense
Geothermal offers more heat with less energy
A common misconception about geothermal is that it does not use any energy whatsoever. This is not the case.
As the energy that comes from the ground is, what is commonly referred to as, low grade energy, it needs to be transformed into a usable heating or cooling. This usable heat also needs to be distributed to from the source to the areas that require heat. This requires electricity.
The cost of geothermal comes in the form of electricity consumption. However, this cost is very low compared to alternatives. In fact, many installations to date are seeing upwards of 4 units of heat or cooling for every unit of energy. The measurement of return on your investment for electric consumption to heat production is typically measured by a metric called COP or Coefficient of Performance.
Most Geothermal Units are above 3:1 and some like the GeoSmart Premium Q are quickly approaching 4.5 or even 5 depending on the installation conditions. Compare that to the 1:1 rate of return on electric heating. Even where propane or oil is used, the costs are dramatically higher when burning fossil fuels not only for the environment, but for our pocket books too! The savings are enormous when considering geothermal.
