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What Is Ground Source Energy?

Ground Source Energy systems provide heating and/or cooling for buildings by taking advantage of the near constant temperature just under the Earth's surface . This constant temperature provides an ideal medium to extract heat which can be upgraded via a Ground Source Heat Pump for heating buildings, or as a medium to which heat can be rejected from a building in order to provide cooling.


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Ground Source Energy or GeoThermal Energy?

Both "Ground Source Energy" and "Geothermal Energy" are terms used to describe energy which is sourced from the Earth, so it's not surprising there is some confusion. However, true geothermal energy is tapped from the Earth's central molten core. In Iceland whole townships are heated using the geothermal heat from subterranean volcanic systems. The term " Ground Source Energy" is not used to describe heating sourced from the Earth's molten core.

 

Earth As A Solar Panel

In addition to the heat emitted from the Earth's central core, the Earth acts as a huge solar energy collector absorbing 47% of the sun's energy. This is 500 times more energy than mankind uses every year and all in the form of clean renewable energy.

 

Earths Vast Energy Store

Only a few metres down the temperature tends to remain constant at about 10-16°C and usually varies by a few degrees (more in the winter) from the surface and air temperature. This is the principal on which a Ground Source Heat Pump works. The amount of temperature variance depends on the geology of the soil, climate and seasonality.

 

By using the Earth's vast energy store it is possible to greatly reduce a building's energy consumption for heating and cooling services and in turn reduce associated CO² emissions.

 

 

Did You Know? [View All]
  • Surveys by utilities indicate a higher level of consumer satisfaction for Ground Source Energy systems than for conventional systems. Polls consistently show that more than 95% of all Ground Source Energy customers would recommend Ground Source Energy to a family member or friend. (USA)
  • Apart from the cool relief in summer and warm comfort in winter, a Ground loop heat exchanger will offer no additional clues to its hard work. These systems have no noisy, rattling units to disturb your staff or neighbours.
  • Geothermal heat pumps are efficient. The use of Ground Source Energy lowers electricity demand by approximately 1 kW per ton of capacity.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified geothermal heat pumps as a technology that significantly reduces greenhouse gas and other air emissions associated with heating, cooling and water heating residential buildings, while saving consumers money, compared to conventional technologies. For every 100,000 units of typically sized residential geothermal heat pumps installed, more than 37.5 trillion Btu’s of energy used for space conditioning and water heating can be saved, corresponding to an emissions reduction of about 2.18 million metric tons of carbon equivalents, and cost savings to consumers of about £400 ($1.90:£1.00) million over the 20-year-life of the equipment.