nuclear electricity

Is trending towards the 1 cent a kwh level.

At that price plain old electric heat/air conditioning is a lot more economical than gas heat or new/retrofit ground source heat pumps.

One needs to be careful with payback times in most places outside of BC

Unfortunately with the double whammy of our BC and Ottawa corrupt fascist governments bought and paid for by Big Oil and dirty little not so green stockbroker power schemes, it is likely power rates will triple before BCHydro is allowed to go nuclear.

Makes ground source heat pumps in BC, a good bet for the near future.

perils of early adoption

I am very much attracted by the idea of geothermal heating, and would be prepared to make this investment for my home in Prince George.

But I probably won't go near this for several years. Regardless of government incentive payments or other subsidies, I've learned the hard way about being an early adopter.

Back in 2000, I replaced my gas furnace with the highest efficiency model that I could find locally. It chronically malfunctioned, and the installer's staff made repeated visits to get it adjusted correctly. At one point, it appeared that the manufacturer's U.S. head office would need to send someone up to get it working properly. It took about 5 years to get to the point where I trusted it. Even now, I'm nervous about going away for extended trips in mid-winter. The consequences of a heating failure are pretty serious up here!

So it will take a lot to convince this otherwise well-intentioned homeowner to make the jump to a technology with an even shorter track record.

Such mundane realities make a great difference to the speed of introducing energy-saving technology, alas!

Geothermal Heat? Nope.

This is not Geothermal Heating. The correct term is Ground Source Heat Pumps. It is actually a form of Solar Heating. Using Solar Energy stored in the ground over the summer to supply heat in the Winter.

Geothermal heating or power is actually a form of Nuclear Energy. It utilizes the heat of radioactive decay stored inside the core & mantle of the Earth. Brought to the surface in fissures or plumes of magma, and tapped in areas where it is close to the Surface, such as Iceland.

The big issue with Heat Pumps is Cost. With Electricity costs double that of NGas, and thanks to SCAMpbell, they are going to rise a lot faster.

If you have a COP of 4X, you only gain 2X in cost. So if a house uses 20,000 kwh of heat per year, the yearly savings is $360 per year (neglecting higher maintenance costs), over NG heating. With an additional expenditure of $6k the energy gain is $6,000/(15,000/8,800)kw = $3.5k per kwth savings. Not bad, a might high for thermal energy. With Hyperion 70 MWth Nuclear Power plants at $30M or $430 per kwth savings. The obvious priority should be rapidly replacing Industrial Process Heat, especially the Tar Sands with Nuclear Thermal Energy. It’s called spending seriously short capital in the most cost effective way. Maximum fossil fuel / GHG savings for minimum cost. With Wind Energy upwards of $12k per kwth, it is an incredibly STUPID way to generate energy. A Total Loser. Heat Pumps make way more sense then using Wind. So to advocate Wind Energy is to advocate the theft of capital that could otherwise be used for improved Education, Health Care and Social Welfare.

heatpumps

In the residential market and many commercial applications, AIR/Air heatpumps are a cost effective alternative, especially in the lower mainland or the island. (Absorbes heat out of the air, rather than the ground.) As a bonus, you get air-conditioning for those once a year heat-waves. Regardless, heatpumps are definately the way to go in this day and age.

Comments

As an HVAC Mechanic of 25 plus years I know a bit about this topic. YCSTS and Sylvain nailed it on a technical level. YCSTS covered one of my major frustrations, the misunderstanding of what we call a 'geothermal' system. jwstewart is right about the standard (which means nothing since it isn't enforced) but misses the boat with the conspiracy theory thing. The only thing holding geothermal back is cost effectiveness and payback. Would you install a $25,000 system in your house to save $800 per year? Even $2000/yr? Factor in amortization, equipment lifespan and repair/maintenance costs and you may do just as well buying Nortel stock. Lets face it, it is about money no matter how 'green' you want to be. The numbers can be even more prohibitive in commercial buildings. No conspiracy dudes, just good old fashioned ecomonics. The maintenance and repair costs on geothermal systems generally far exceed conventional systems too. ALWAYS remember to send the guy with the baseball cap and 'crack' showing away, far away. Ensure you use a properly licensed and experienced REFRIGERATION MECHANIC. Get a written contract on projected energy savings and hold the contractors feet to the fire. These devices are refrigeration units, so use "Joes Plumbing and Heating" at your own peril. Possibly your problem Sylvain??????? I'll bet it is. Caveat emptor. A plumbing company can do the field piping work but the design, commissioning and startup has to be done by someone with the skills and training. Not the plumbing trade, sorry.

I have worked on hundreds of geothermal systems, never installed ONE but do service and diagnostics. Make poorly installed systems work, diagnose and rectify poor design (when possible.) The systems I have worked on vary from single residential to commercial applications exceeding 300tons cooling capacity. I worked on a 40ton system today that has been off since september!!! (Trended via the building automation system) The building was being heated by the backup boiler and no one noticed!!! A huge amount of money to spend to simply go back to square one!!! I try not to laugh sometimes but the industry I work in is quite laughable. One can become very good at what they do, but have to deal with property managers and administrators who prefer the cult of personality over experience and competence.

Geothermal systems will grow proportionally to the increase in energy costs and the strength of our economy. For the interim, most large systems will be installed in public buildings.

One

I'm sticking to the conspiracy theory.

Because basically what you are saying is that both individuals, businesses and governments are more concerned with the money than the environment.

I will say that my shares of WFI have doubled since I bought them:)

Cost

Sometimes doing the right thing might cost a bit more. The system we recently installed in a small office building(8 tonne) capacity worked great this last winter. The only real additional cost was drilling(grouting) and piping in the wells. The Canadian made heat pumps cost about the same as a furnace and boiler might. I will be monitoring the electrical consumption of the units this year. It might take a while to pay off and even without the benefit of carbon credit trading and all the BS red tape for any government incentive it makes sense. And we are on our way to being mor self sufficient. Think about how nice it will be one day to not get a utility bill, which you do get whether you use gas, fuel or line supplied electricity. It is indeed time for people to re-evaluate the cost of gas and line power. Governments should incent people(not global corporations who say they are free enterprise, but love subsidies) to use LED lighting and self generated power with wind mills and solar panels. Battery storage, with inverter systems. Not cheap but right. Remember that many of the situatons we are in right now are because somebody wouldn't spend the money to do it right.

Cost is Life or Death - Survive or Perish

Probably 90% of our population, just have no idea of the magnitude of the peak oil / global warming crisis that we are rapidly approaching. Our civilization was built upon energy supplies that cost well under one cent per kwh to produce. These new "green" energy supplies and energy efficiency methods that are being promoted as alternatives are 10-50 cents a kwh, or more even.

The per capita energy consumption of Canada, X4 for a family of four, is 528,000 kwh per yr. That would cost $52k per avg family of four per yr - JUST FOR ENERGY! That's at 10 cents per kwh not 20 to 50 cents, like many of these "solutions" cost. That simply spells economic collapse - mass unemployment, social breakdown, mass migrations of population, starvation of billions of people.

"...In today's industrialized world, it takes the energy equivalent of one-half glass of diesel fuel just to put a glass of milk on the table; two pounds of coal to produce a one pound loaf of bread; and three pounds of coal to produce one pound of hamburger..."

http://www.me.utexas.edu/~ans/info/reactor5.htm

People will burn filthy brown coal in smoke belching dirt burners until the sky is dark, the air is acrid, the lakes are poisoned and runaway global warming has transformed the Earth, when faced with life or death choices.

The issue of Cost is the modern day equivalent of the problem a subsistence farmer might face, who relies on harvesting wood for his family's energy needs and the local forest he relies upon for wood has been depleted. So maybe 20 miles away there is a large forest with lots of Wood. But the time and physical energy it takes him to transport the Wood that distance, leaves him insufficient energy & time to produce sufficient food & shelter for survival. And so he & his family may perish. That's cost.

It's Stupid Economics, Not "It's The Economics, Stupid"

We desperately need a carbon tax - being able to use the atmosphere to dump C02 and other GHGs for 'free' is killing us.

Given what's at stake, putting GHG into the atmosphere should be an expensive proposition. That's what it will take to make alternatives - like geothermal - feasible.

A tax is the quick, direct, easy, reliable way to do this. Carbon credits - that's the Rube Goldberg approach that will enrich the Wall Street crowd while accomplishing little-to-nothing in terms of averting the climate change disaster that is looming ever larger.