Five-Hawk Enterprises

"I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.

Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe "

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Seasonal Heat Pump Functions

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Energy is a reliable energy source, depending on your location. It is commonly used to provide a source of heating and cooling using “ground source heat pumps”. These geothermal heat pumps are an electric-powered, bi-directional HVAC system that uses relatively constant ground or groundwater temperature to transfer energy for space heating/cooling and water heating.

Go to (www.nrel.gov/gis/maps.html) to see a Geothermal Resource potential map.

"The biggest benefit of GHPs is that they use 25%–50% less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems. This translates into a GHP using one unit of electricity to move three units of heat from the earth. According to the EPA, geothermal heat pumps can reduce energy consumption—and corresponding emissions—up to 44% compared to air-source heat pumps and up to 72% compared to electric resistance heating with standard air-conditioning equipment. GHPs also improve humidity control by maintaining about 50% relative indoor humidity, making GHPs very effective in humid areas." Source

Geothermal Ground Source Heat Pumps

A geothermal heat pump, ground source heat pump (GSHP), or ground heat pump, is a central heating and/or cooling system that pumps heat to or from the ground. It uses the earth 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. Geothermal heat pumps are also known by a variety of other names, including geoexchange, earth-coupled, earth energy or water-source heat pumps. 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.

Ground source heat pumps harvest a combination of geothermal energy (from the Earth's core) and solar energy (heat absorbed at the Earth's surface) when heating, but work against these heat sources when used for air conditioning. Source