Geothermal Testimony

Geothermal put into home use; Earth friendly: New Candler Park house's heating, cooling system will pay for itself.


KEVIN DUFFY; Staff
It's an energy source that's right under our feet, but hardly anyone uses it.

Geothermal taps the Earth's constant subterranean temperature --- in Atlanta that's about 62 degrees --- to heat and cool buildings. The system works by circulating water through underground tubes to move the Earth's heat to the home.

Margaret Olson and Scott McMahon are on to geothermal. It will be part of the home they're building in Candler Park.

The couple is spending $32,500 on their heating and cooling system. The geothermal upgrade was $16,000 to $20,000 of that cost, depending on what the couple would have spent had they gone with a conventional system.

Even with the premium price, "it's where you should spend your money," said Olson, an engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Why? Because geothermal is inexhaustible, clean and quiet, and cheaper to operate. It doesn't use a fossil-fuel burning furnace.

The installer in Candler Park, GeoThermal Energy Systems of Norcross, says the couple's monthly energy savings will be about $60 greater than their loan payment on the system and that, over 20 years, they could save $26,000 in energy costs.

Another big plus of geothermal is the tax savings. The U.S. government offers a 30 percent credit with no cap; Georgia's credit is $2,000. Olson and McMahon figure their investment will pay for itself in five to eight years.

Fewer than 1 percent of households use geothermal, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates. The Obama administration is encouraging geothermal use in residences and commercial buildings as it tries to make America less fossil-fuel dependent.

Kenny Libby, president of GeoThermal Energy Solutions, said his company has installed about 40 systems since fall 2006.

Geothermal is more efficient than conventional heating and air conditioning systems because, rather than trying to cool hot summer air and heat cold winter air, it uses the Earth's steady underground temperature to make heating and cooling easier.

At the Candler Park site, GeoThermal Energy Systems dug two 400-foot wells to house the system's looping pipes. During the winter, water in the pipes will move the Earth's heat to the house, where it will be absorbed by a refrigerant, compressed to a higher temperature and blown into rooms. During the summer, heat will be withdrawn from the house and sent underground.

No air conditioner will buzz next to the house.

John Scheafbauer, who operates a foam insulation business, had geothermal installed while building a home in Decatur. He acknowledged the upfront cost scares off a lot of people, but "my bills on my 4,500-square-foot home are less than on my old 1,500-square-foot home by $150 a month during the high period of the summer."

With the help of their builder, Landmark Builders Group, and their architect, Jonathan Elmore of modHouse, Olson and McMahon will apply to join four houses in Georgia to be LEED-certified, a rating system designation of the U.S. Green Building Council that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution