The Oil Drum

141 comments on Ground Source Heat Pumps

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Will Stewart on February 7, 2008 - 2:52pm

You may instead want to explore solar-heated borehole thermal energy storage, as it has been implemented at this subdivision near Calgary, though your system could be much smaller;
http://www.dlsc.ca/how.htm

See the video for full explanation;
http://www.dlsc.ca/DL_11_28_web.mov Quicktime
http://www.dlsc.ca/DL_web_11_23.wmv Windows Media Player

Solar energy is captured year-round by rooftop solar collectors and stored in the ground by pumping the heated fluid into borehole piping loops

Overview

This system will provide 95% of the heat for these homes near frigid Calgary. Your system would be much smaller, maybe a couple of boreholes and no tanks. Here's an photo of the actual completed community;

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CalGuy on February 9, 2008 - 1:18pm

That is a nice project, but it requires a new development with district heating. I think that an individual home could to something similar with a ground source heat pump and solar thermal collectors.

During the summer, the hot water is circulated down into the ground heating the soil and storing the energy. During the winter months, when it is cloudy and you can not use solar thermal heating, you can draw from the heat stored in the ground to heat the home using the heat pump.

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Retsel on February 11, 2008 - 5:04pm

Even without solar collectors, ground-source heat pumps store and reuse energy. When cooling the house for the summer, heat is rejected to the ground. When winter comes, that heat can be extracted from the ground to heat the house. As spring approaches, the ground has been cooled after the witner and is thus is a more efficient medium for cooling the house.

Retsel

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CalGuy on February 11, 2008 - 10:10pm

Yes, however many places in the U.S. do not require much AC in the summer but require a lot of heating in the winter. Storing a lot of heat in the summer from solar thermal collectors can provide a lot of heat in the winter, saving lots of energy and money.