Water Energy Geothermal partner in the news in Rhode Island:
Home goes green, going underground

---

Home of René & Elizabeth Roy in Harvard, MA

Bow House – built in 1987 and has 3,320 sq feet w/ forced hot air by oil Home office over garage heated w/ baseboard electric heaters & cooled with window A/C unit

ClimateMaster Two-Stage 6-ton Geothermal Heat Pump w/ 20 Kw Electric B/U heater 600-ft Geo open-loop standing column well is source for Earth Coupling heating & cooling
Retrofitted using existing ducts
Geothermal System installed Oct 2008

Data for Heating Season Only – October 08 - April 09

	2000 thru 2007 Average Oct - Apr		Oct 2008 - Apr 2009
Electric	7,850 Kwh	$ 1,387	17,600 Kwh	$ 2,801
Oil	1,017 gals	$ 3,267 *	NONE	$ 0
Total Heating		$ 4,654		$ 2,801
Savings		$ 1,843 ~ 40 %
Cost / Sq Ft		$ 1.40 / sq ft		$ 0.84 / sq ft

* If Oil contract had been signed in Aug 2008 , oil cost would have been $ 4,576 for a total heating cost of $ 5,963 vs. $ 2,801 with geothermal . . . for a savings of $ 3,162 or approx 53 % .

Install cost breakdown Payback period

Load analysis, system & well design	N / C
Heat pump, duct work, installation	$ 24,500
Well, pump, plumbing	$ 12,075
Electrical for heat pump, well pump & HWH	$ 1,056
High efficiency electric hot water heater	$ 910
Trenching & sludge / bleed pit	$ 1,735
Total cost	$ 40,276
30 % Tax Credit ………………………………………………………….	$ 12,083
Net cost . . ..	$ 28,193
Projected annual savings	$ 2,500
11,3 years *

* Added benefit also achieved with increased resale value
Installation performed by: Bill Wenzel Geothermal

---

Day 1 and 2 of Geothermal: Why We're Doing It and FAQs

GreenLifeSmartLife has documented their experience installing a geothermal system in their new house. This segment is the first in a four-part series on why they chose geothermal and what it is. Part two will be a list of FAQs accompanied by the first round of photos to help readers understand what the equipment looks like and what it takes to install a geothermal heat pump. Part three will run on Thursday and, along with more photos, will cover the drilling of the well. Friday they are going to share their cost analysis graph including upfront costs, comparison cost to gas and oil systems, payoff time and our tax rebates.

June 2, 2009, by castercomm
Originally published on GreenLifeSmartLife.com
Photo credit: GreenLifeSmartLife.com

Day 1 of Geothermal: Why We're Doing It
When I mentioned to my parents (among others) that we were installing a geothermal system in our new house, they had blank stares. “What does that mean?”

My long and winding path through the selection of the best heating and cooling system began six months ago and culminated with the selection of a geothermal system, which is right for us for so many reasons.

The process I went through was extensive and included everything from a tour of the Viessmann US headquarters located here in RI to interviewing the top HVAC (heating venting and air conditioning) installers in the state. I analyzed the cost to own both for the short and long term, the carbon emissions, the fossil fuels and the overall equipment impact – even the landscaping needs of both systems. I have to say thanks to Hazard Stewart at Newport Geothermal of Newport, RI for his patience, education and incredible graciousness in standing with me in 50 mph winds and freezing temperatures as I questioned and questioned him on the system. I also owe an incredible thank you to the team of Jeanne and Dennis Reddy at Reddy Piping of Narragansett, RI who designed and installed the interior portion of the system including all of the ductwork, piping, tanks and EVRs for a HVAC system. The system, on its blower test, scored an impressive > 2% leakage rate in zones 3 & 4 of the house! (Note: Zones 1 &2 had a wet glue issue and zone 5 is cooling only and wasn’t in yet.)

Continue Day 1 here.

Day 2 of Geothermal: Frequently Asked Questions

Deciding to go with a geothermal system over the gas fired boiler was an education process. I really had to understand how it worked. I struggled at first with the concept of heating a home from a constant lower temperature and cooling a home by removing hot air as opposed to adding cold air. There were so many new terms and lots of new vernacular for me to grasp, so I started a list of FAQs that helped me understand each of the parts of the system. We’ve included our own photo display to accompany this blog so it helps put it into perspective.

This is part of our effort to lower our home’s operating costs over its lifecycle.

FAQ's:

Q: What is a geothermal heat pump?
A: A geothermal or “ground-source” heat pump is an electrically-powered device that uses the natural heat storage ability of the earth and/or the earth’s groundwater to heat and cool your home.

Q: How does it work?
A: Like any type of heat pump, it simply moves heat energy from one place to another. Your refrigerator works using the same principle. By using refrigeration, the geothermal heat pump removes heat energy stored in the earth and/or the earth’s groundwater and transfers it to the home.

Continue Day 2 here.

---

Residential Case Study -- 2,000 Square foot Colonial

This 2,000 sq. foot Energy Crafted Home* in Bow, NH is equipped with a 4-ton "Classic" heat pump from Climate Master (The ClimateMaster “Classic” geothermal heat pump is now two generations of heat pump old – newer models are significantly more efficient). Water for the forced air system is drawn (and returned) from its standing column well. The home qualifies for the "Heat Smart" program run by PSNH and receives electricity at a lower rate for the well pump, heat pump, and hot water.

Actual costs to heat, cool, and provide hot water for the year ending September 1999 (family of four) was $584, (3.8 kWh/sq foot). The same home paid a total of $867 for heat, cooling and hot water for all of 2007.

*The Energy Crafted Home program requires that a new home be built with high R-Value windows, extra insulation in the walls and attic, etc. The Heat Smart Program requires an "electro-technology" heating system such as a high performance heat pump.

---

Other "Heat Pump" Homes in New England

Actual metered data from Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH)¹ and Bangor Hydro (BH)² are as listed below for a mix of various heat pump manufacturers that participate in the program through 1999. All of the New Hampshire data is from PSNH's "Energy Crafted Home" program. Maine's results are from a 1994/1995 BH's demonstration program with a mix of house insulation and construction, including retrofits of existing homes.

We have averaged the two sets of data and show a result of: Average per year per square foot of conditioned space

Public Service of NH: 3.7 kWh (Energy Crafted Homes)
Bangor Hydro: 4.9 kWh (Standard Construction)

² Bangor - Seven homes have been monitored for more than one year. The range of electrical energy used is from 3.4 to 8.5 kWh/sq ft/year.

Click on the following .pdf links to view the updated data averages for the PSNH energy star home programs where geothermal heat pumps were deployed through Water Energy and other distributors.

PSNH – Annual Fuel Cost graph – current through April 2008
PSNH – Annual heating per square foot – current through April 2008

Considering the effect of degree-days:

Degree-Days (typical per NOAA)
Concord, NH 7,360	0.50 watts/square foot/Deg.-Day for Energy Crafted Home
Bangor, ME 8,220	0.60 watts/square foot/Deg.-Day For Standard Construction/Retrofit
NORMALIZATION ELECTRIC ENERGY USED by CONSTRUCTION TYPE & GeoExchange

Knowing the construction of the home and the average electric rate in your area you can make an estimate of annual heating, cooling and domestic hot water costs. Simply multiply these above factors (F) by the average electric rate (R), by the local Degree Days (DD) and by the conditioned square feet (SF) in the house. From that simple calculation: F x R x DD x SF, 1,000 = average annual cost, you can make a reasonable estimate of averaged annual costs for a potential heat pump customer - keep in mind there is quite a spread on these factors and the results of that simple multiplication will be a fair average.

Here is another simple tool you may want to use that allows the user to input cost of delivered kwh and overall geothermal system COP. The spreadsheet will identify how much your traditional fuel would have to cost in order to be competitive against proven geothermal efficiencies. We suggest you use a conservative geothermal COP of between 3.0 and 4.0 to get a conservative estimate.

Water Energy - Fuel cost comparison tool (an EXCEL workbook)

---

Prest Home Electrical Usage

From August, 2007 thru March, 2009
11 Highland Road, Groton, MA 01450

Home is all electric. No gas or oil used. Heating and cooling is via a heat exchanger in a standing-pipe geothermal system taking water from a well exchanging heat and returning the water back to the very same well. Electricity is used for the well pump, heat exchanger, ductwork fans, air- exchange fan, all appliances (stove, ovens, washer/dryer, dish washer), lights, TV/stereo, computers, water heater, workshop tools, workshop radiant heat, etc.

Month	2007	2008*	2009*
January		$346.38	$400.60	Heat
February		$342.73	$408.74	Heat
March		$326.70	$284.45	Heat
April		$314.79		Heat
May		$207.39
June		$158.46		AC
July		$148.91		AC
August	$124.09	$160.23		AC
September	$168.29	$155.75
October	$155.52	$186.04		Heat
November	$155.25	$157.35		Heat
December	$258.19	$294.62		Heat

* Dec. 08 thru March 09 includes radiant heat and tool usage in workshop plus rate increase. I did not do a temperature comparison between the two winters shown above. This house is highly insulated and tight. It received an Energy Star rating of 44 for approximately 3,600 square feet of floor space (Basement + 1st and 2nd floors). Maximum rating allowed is 85 to receive an Energy Star rating. Roof consists of 12" thick Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) having 11.25" rigid insulation sandwiched between outer and inner layers of 1/2" OSB sheathing. Walls have cellulose insulation blown in between 2x6 studs plus a 3/4" layer of rigid, polyurethane insulation screwed to the inside face of the studs, under the 1/2" sheetrock. All joints around thermal windows and doors and sills have been filled with expanding urethane foam making for a very tight draft-resistant house.