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Politics : MITT ROMNEY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (2918)	3/15/2008 11:14:48 AM
From: Jim S	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5586

Good article, Gus. I don't think geothermal should be quickly dismissed, either. The real advantage of geothermal for the average household is not from deep holes to generate steam, though. I'm in the process of building a new house, and looked closely at geothermal for heat and cooling. The idea for individuals is to just bury a loop of tubing ten or more feet deep to where the soil remains at a constant temperature of about 50-60 degrees. The tubing carries a coolant solution that gets pumped through a heat pump. It is significantly more efficient than an air conditioning/heating system that uses outside air. For an average 2000 sq foot home, heating and cooling costs can be reduced to less than $50 per month, winter and summer, assuming a well-insulated house. The expensive part of this solution is burying the tubing in a pair of wells or a long trench.