Geothermal Heating and Cooling
>> Jan 5, 2017
Regardless of where you bare in the world, you
are experience varying temperatures. For some localities, winters can be
brutally cold while areas will always find it hard to believe that temperatures
could go beyond zero degrees. This variation is part of what makes the study of
climate an enticing mystery.
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In the changing temperatures, and without regard
to the season, the temperature on the ground remains unchanged. The earth can
trap heat in itself and retain reasonably constant temperatures. Even when the
area above ground is frozen, the earth will have absorbed at least 47 percent
of the sun’s heat to keep it warm enough for human inhabitation. Experts are
making use of this knowledge to introduce a way of heating and cooling that is
less harmful to Mother Earth.
•
Geothermal Heating
The heat from the ground is trapped to heat your
home using underground pipes called loops. The loop is installed either
horizontally or vertically to enable a transparent exchange of fluids from the
ground to the surface. If you get deeper into the ground (beyond 70 feet), you
will find pockets of hot water that get even hotter with depth. This heat is
sent up through the loop to the surface, where it heats up the foundation of
your home or office. When the ground is warmed up, the heat insulates into the
building and heats it. This technology is even used to generate geothermal
power, which is a renewable source of energy. Your bank account will thank you
for being innovative, as you will save at least 80 percent of your energy
consumption if you embrace geothermal heating.
•
Geothermal Cooling
Geothermal cooling works in the reverse of the
heating process. Instead of sending warm air through the loop to the ground and
effectively heating your home, the cooling process takes the warm or hot air
from the atmosphere and sends it to the ground. The loop either returns the
heat to the ground or uses it to heat up water in your hot water tank. At the
end of it, you still save some money from the cooling system that will stay
turned off for longer and you will not have to use the heater for your water.
How it all
works
•
Circulation
You have some underground pipes installed
beneath the surface of the earth, and you have some more above the ground. The
pipes above the ground move water into the pipes buried underneath. The
underground water heats up the water in the pipes and circulates the heat all
the way from below to the surface of the earth.
•
Absorption
As the water goes up the loop, it heats up the
rocks that form the foundation of your building.
•
Heat Exchange
The heat that the water generates from
underground can be put into many uses. You could use it to heat spaces, or you
could heat up your water with it. When the surfaces are heated, you will only
require minimal amounts of fossil fuel-based energy to heat up the building.
•
Recirculation
Once the water has been sent up the loop, it
cools down upon contact with the temperatures above the ground. This works well
also at times when you use geothermal energy for cooling. The up and down
movement works perfectly to keep you comfortable, alternating between heating
the surfaces and cooling them.
The use of fossil energy has drained earth of
essential elements that we may never recover again. We have spent the better
part of their time on Earth ruining it. It does not hurt making some amends.
Using a cleaner source of energy could be a great starting point.
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