Geothermal energy comes from the consistent temperature that exists in the ground below us. This energy can generate a clean and sustainable source of heating and cooling.
Geothermal energy exists under our feet and can be harnessed to heat and cool buildings, schools and even entire towns. Additionally, geothermal energy can be used in specialized applications such as greenhouses, crop drying, and heating and cooling water in land-based fish farms
Geothermal
A Steady Flow of Energy
Geothermal heat pump systems utilize the earth’s constant underground temperature to efficiently cool and heat buildings. Specifically, geothermal systems use a network of underground piping that circulates heat exchange fluid to reject or extract thermal energy to and from the earth.
During the summer months, this heat exchange fluid is pumped through the piping and rejects heat collected from the building, via a heat pump(s), into the ground and cools the building. During the winter months, the process is reversed, and heat exchange fluid pumped through the piping absorbs thermal energy from the ground to heat the building. The ability to cool and heat a structure comes from the single underground source.
Balancing Hot and Cold Temperatures
A perfectly balanced building load requires as much heating in the winter as cooling in the summer. This means that an equal amount of heat goes in the ground in the summer as comes out in the winter.
However, perfectly balanced energy loads are rare. In reality, most commercial buildings require more cooling than heating due to high occupancy schedules, large electronic and lighting loads, and solar heat gain. Conversely, residential buildings often require more heating than cooling, depending on location and weather. The fact is that most building loads are not balanced and there is a disparate amount of heat being extracted or rejected into the ground.
When heat is rejected to the ground, the earth stores this heat and acts as a thermal battery waiting to be used. The key to geothermal technology is to use this thermal battery efficiently by ensuring that it is not over or under charged. A properly designed geothermal system takes into account unbalanced loads and will always keep your battery charged.
Fortunately, with advanced technology, systems can be designed and controlled to intelligently balance loads, and existing geothermal systems experiencing temperature issues can be rescued.
It’s time to convert potential geothermal system liabilities into assets.
Do you have borefields operating outside of design parameters?
Comprehensive monitoring software can keep those borefields from failing with real-time information and alerts.
Do you have problems with your heat pumps unexpectedly locking out due to high or low entering water temperatures?
Advanced diagnostics can prevent these costly and annoying shutdowns.
Does your geothermal system experience extreme temperature drift?
Cutting-edge artificial intelligence can eliminate the chance of the system underperforming or completely shutting down.
Does your geothermal system work at peak efficiency?
Self-adapting software can help optimize control of the outside heat exchanger and hybrid components.
When it comes to your geothermal system, don’t just find the problem, solve the problem.
What is an 8760 Energy Model?
An 8760 energy model is an hour-by-hour analysis that simulates a building’s performance for all 8,760 hours in a given 12-month period. This method uses the actual sequence of days and weather data, instead of averages. An 8760 analysis produces the most accurate energy model and operating cost estimates.
Load profile helps energy efficiency
The best way to save energy is to use it only when you need it. A building’s 8760 analysis allows you to design your heating and cooling system to use energy when needed. Therefore, a buildings heating and cooling system can be controlled efficiently.
8760 best analysis of all variables
There are many building energy analysis methods available. However, the 8760 method is the only analysis that can simultaneously consider weather data, variations in building loads, occupancy schedules, and numerous other factors on an hourly basis.
Incorporates building’s thermal behavior and HVAC response
An 8760 energy model simulates the dynamic hour-by-hour thermal behavior of a building and the response required by the heating and cooling equipment to adapt to this changing environment. This simulation provides high-quality data that can be used to predict operating costs and help to design and operate a more efficient system.
This 8760 hour-by-hour method consistently produces superior accuracy through:
• Better estimates of monthly and annual energy uses;
• More accurate load profiles;
• Better time of use energy data; and
• More accurate estimates of peak demands.
Additional 8760 benefits
Using the 8760 method improves design accuracy, helps optimize full size or hybrid geothermal systems, and can be extremely useful when evaluating failing geothermal systems.
Additionally, advances in design and controls software allow the engineer to produce 8760 loads and use these loads to design customized solutions and energy analyses for all geothermal projects.
The better the data the lower the costs.
Going Green by Going Geothermal
Geothermal energy comes from the consistent temperature that exists in the ground below us. This energy can generate a clean and sustainable source of heating and cooling.
Geothermal energy exists under our feet and can be harnessed to heat and cool buildings, schools and even entire towns. Additionally, geothermal energy can be used in specialized applications such as greenhouses, crop drying, and heating and cooling water in land-based fish farms.
More Than “Apples to Apples”
How does geothermal compare to other energy sources? Unlike oil, geothermal installations do not extract a non-renewable resource from the ground and produces only a fraction, if any, of the air pollutants emitted by burning fossil fuel. Therefore, by utilizing these geothermal resources, either alone or in combination with hybrid fossil fuel systems, we can help conserve our fossil fuel resources and mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases.
Fun facts:
Geothermal Outshines Other Energy Sources
The greatest engineering challenge of this century is satisfying our voracious appetite for energy resources without causing irreversible harm to our world (Geothermal Energy: A Feasibility Study on the Application of Ground Source Heat Pumps, Worcester Polytechnic Institute by Jake Brown, Anna Maziarz and Brian Mercer).
At a minimum, we need to generate our own reliable and recurring carbon-neutral energy to reduce our dependence on other countries’ supplies. Geothermal is more reliable than wind and solar energy. Why? Because the wind doesn’t always blow, and rarely at the same speed, and the sun doesn’t always shine, and rarely at the same intensity. But the earth’s crust maintains a constant temperature.
What’s preventing the universal acceptance of geothermal energy?
Some people think the initial installation costs for geothermal are too high. This is no longer accurate. For example, installing a geothermal hybrid solution often costs less than a traditional HVAC system. Today’s hybrid geothermal systems incorporate the best technologies and practices of the geothermal and HVAC industries, greatly reduce CO2 emissions, and reduce energy costs by 25-60% over the lifetime of the building. Any additional costs resulting from selecting geothermal are offset within the first couple of years of ownership through reduced operation and maintenance costs.
Additionally, many governments around the world, including the United States, have implemented tax incentives and credits that make geothermal energy even more attractive.
Who should utilize geothermal energy?
Every commercial project in the world should consider geothermal energy. With advances in technology, geothermal is now easy, efficient, affordable, and provides superior indoor air quality (IAQ) and comfort.
Universal adoption of geothermal energy is not a cost issue. Greensleeves is happy to demonstrate how its technology can ensure that geothermal works best for all new construction and retrofits. Geothermal should be the go-to green energy worldwide, and Greensleeves can help make that a reality.
Geothermal
The Coolest Hot Topic in Energy
With geothermal energy, your home, business, school district and whole town can benefit from the best available onsite source of free and clean energy. Imagine using efficient and sustainable energy to keep your occupants comfortable all year long from a source that is closer than you think.
Where can this energy be found?
Ground temperatures vary greatly between locations with Alaska averaging 37 °F and Florida averaging 77 °F. However, at any given locale, the ground temperature at 30-feet remains consistently stable. So, whether it’s cold or hot outside, the constant temperature beneath the earth’s surface can generate sufficient source energy to heat and cool buildings.
The two main components that make up a closed-loop geothermal system are underground pipes and a heat pump. The underground pipes absorb heat from or reject heat to, the ground by transferring the energy to the fluid in the pipes. The heat pump then raises or lowers this source energy temperature to meet the heating and cooling requirements for the building.
How does a geothermal system work?
During colder months, heat exchanger fluid is circulated through underground pipes to absorb the earth’s energy. This fluid then passes through a heat exchanger in the heat pump, where the energy is transferred to a closed-loop refrigerant circuit. The refrigerant is converted into a low-temperature vapor. A reversing valve directs this low-temperature vapor to the compressor where it is heated and directed to the condenser coil. Air is then blown across the condenser coil absorbing the heat and allowing this hot air to be circulated through a duct system or this heat is directed to a water-to-water heat exchanger for hydronic systems. The vapor finally passes through an expansion device where its temperature and pressure are reduced and it returns to the heat exchanger where the cycle repeats itself.
During warmer months, the process is simply reversed. Specifically, warm air from the building is absorbed and transferred to the heat exchange fluid. This heat is then transferred into the underground piping where it is rejected to the cooler ground.
Why choose geothermal?
Geothermal energy is the most sustainable and cost-efficient heating and cooling method available today. It provides a variety of functions including heat generation, air conditioning (cooling), domestic hot water production and humidity control. Geothermal systems are becoming the heating and cooling method of choice to more and more consumers.
One of the main advantages of geothermal heat pump systems is that they consume 20-50% less energy than conventional heating or cooling systems. On average, geothermal heat pumps reduce energy consumption by over 40% compared to air source heat pumps and by up to 60% compared to traditional air conditioning.
What’s the latest news on geothermal?
In recent years, the geothermal industry has made significant advances in equipment and technology that have eliminated the historical fears, costs, and land limitations that prevented universal acceptance of geothermal energy.
Today, there are different types of ground source heat exchangers and geothermal systems. These new types of heat exchangers and geothermal systems, combined with additional technological innovations, make geothermal the preferred heating and cooling option for almost every location and building.
A properly designed geothermal system provides the following benefits:
Free and clean onsite energy sources can lower expenses and reduce the negative effects on the environment. Plus, with a geothermal system, a building’s aesthetics are not significantly impacted while working to achieve “green” goals.
Geothermal is the coolest hot topic in energy!
GS Connect Rescue provides options for both critical and non-critical situations when an existing borefield is experiencing temperature drift. In a non-critical situation, Greensleeves will monitor the system for 12 months to determine the cause of the problem, and then propose the best solution. With a critical borefield, Greensleeves will provide the best solution, based on the information available, within 30 days. Greensleeves’ GS Connect Rescue products are case specific. Your borefield issues are unique; why should your solution be any different?
Geothermal Systems Get a Tax Break
Guess who helped make the installation of geothermal systems more affordable? The federal government! In January 2018, the Federal Government extended the federal tax credits to 2021, effectively reducing the costs associated with geothermal systems. (Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018).
As with the previous legislation that expired in 2016, there is a 10% tax credit for commercial geothermal systems. Bonus – the tax credit also applies retroactively for 2017 installations and includes a five-year accelerated depreciation schedule for commercial geothermal applications. Plus, these federal tax incentives are in addition to any state incentives.
Like all renewable energy sources, initial capital expense has slowed the universal adoption of geothermal energy. However, with the extension of these tax incentives, geothermal systems are more affordable than ever.
These tax credits allow a commercial building owner to get back 10% of the cost of any geothermal system. This includes systems, installed or in progress between 2017 and 2021. This “in progress” language makes a significant difference. This means you can start a project late in any year through 2021, and even though it may not be operational by year end, it will still qualify for the tax credits.
Additionally, for qualified geothermal systems placed in service after September 2017 and before 2023, 100% of the asset can be expended in the year it is placed in service. Geothermal systems placed into service between 2023 and 2026 are subject to a five-year decreasing accelerated depreciation schedule based on the year it is placed in service (80%, 60%, 40%, 20%).
Tax credits and accelerated depreciation make the best sustainable energy even better.
Making Dollars and Sense
District energy systems can help communities reduce their heating and cooling costs and keep more energy dollars in the community.
How does it work? Essentially, a geothermal district energy loop is installed in the ground near multiple buildings. This loop supplies heating and cooling to all of the buildings connected to the district energy system. These systems are able to capitalize on the diversity of loads within any given district. For example, the heat rejected by an office building due to internal heat gains can be used to heat a residential building. Therefore, district loops use energy more efficiently as existing heat can be transferred to where it is needed as opposed to generating new heat.
In addition to a geothermal district system’s unsurpassed reliability, efficiency, and convenience, it provides reduced life-cycle costs, lower energy bills, and reduced capital expenditures.
Because these district loops utilize geothermal energy, they significantly reduce the environmental impact from heating and cooling.
Geothermal district energy systems are the very foundation of reliable onsite sustainable energy and should be the design of choice for communities of the future.
GS Connect Controls uses predictive building controls to help maximize the performance of commercial geothermal systems. Predictive controls are a control method that continuously updates and changes depending on the historic and current loads the building is experiencing. GS Controls learns the actual building use over time, adapts to these patterns and optimizes the interplay between the ground heat exchanger and the hybrid components resulting in lower energy consumption. This allows for minimized equipment runtime with maximized energy savings