Getting Your Power from Ground Source Heat Pumps

Article Written By: katrinawagner

It seems that the more you read up on alternative energy sources, the more you discover that really so much of it is simple common sense. So can it really be that you can obtain power from the actual ground that you walk on and that your home is built on, and if so, how? Now you may have read that not far below ground it stays warm all year, but can it be that warm? I mean don't you need substantial amounts of heat to generate power?

Now for some real answers and the first area of confusion I will clear up, is that ground source heat pumps don't generate any electricity. Quite simply, they are used to heat, and cool your home. That's it. Also you should be aware up front, that they are machines that in fact use electricity to run.

You also should know that the basic technology that's behind a ground source heat pump has been around for decades. In fact it's very similar to the technology that goes into running your air conditioner that you may have in your home right now. So then what is this technology and how does it work to get heat from the ground?

The real confusion comes in when the term heat pump is used. You see, when most people hear the words (heat pump) being spoken, they picture some type of pump that's actually somehow pumping heat. In this case right out of the ground. Perhaps this is the picture that you have in your head.

What's really going on is a mechanical process that involves the exchange of thermal energy, and you yourself have seen it in action many times already. For instance, perhaps you may have set your hand against the outside fins of an air conditioner and noticed that they're warm when it's running?

The reason is that when Freon is pressurized it gets hot and needs to be cooled so it's ran through the outside fins to cool before being directed back into the home. When the Freon is decompressed, the opposite happens. It becomes cold, and when it's ran through the inside grill it's then used to cool a home.

You can think of a ground source heat pump as a larger and more complex heating and cooling unit that simply has no outside cooling grid. Instead that grid is made up of a series of pipes that are run below the ground and even in a pond if you have one on your grounds.

So then why underground or in a water pond? The answer is simple and that is that the ground or the water do a far more efficient job of transferring away the energy. Try it yourself by heating up two spoons on your stove, quench one in water, and blow on the other one. Of course the spoon in the water is cooled immediately.

About the Author

Myriad Econic design, supply & install water source, air source and Ground Source Heat Pumps for a range of clients in different industry sectors across the UK.

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This Article Has Been Published on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 and Read 235 Times

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