How can we, as homeowners, manage to keep up with our rising energy bills and still keep warm and cozy? With all the push to ‘go green’ these days, doesn’t it make sense to check out the resources that nature provides? These are questions that we grappled with when designing our log home on Big Bar Lake in the Cariboo and, after doing a little research, we were able to come up with a solution.
“Let’s go geothermal,” my husband had suggested, intrigued not only by its cost efficiency but also by this environmental pleaser. He’d read a few pamphlets and deciphered the principles to me in layman’s terms. “The temperature at two metres below ground level is a constant 10 to 15 degrees C year-round,” he explained. “Pipes and a ground source heat pump will transfer the earth’s warmth right into our log home. It’s similar to the way our refrigerator works.” Although science had never been my forte, I could relate to anything in my kitchen.
As well as heating our dreamscape during the Cariboo’s chilly months, I discovered that this energizer would dub as a summer air conditioner by moving the temperature from the cooler ground into our cottage’s interior. I was starting to like this idea of becoming geothermally energized.
But there were still questions that needed answering before we could make our final decision. And who better to ask than a couple of pros? Keith and Marg Tjosvold, the owners of Markey Mechanical, have been in business for over 30 years and over that time they’ve installed hundreds of geothermal units.
“As fuel prices continue to escalate, so does the interest in geothermal,” Keith says when we inquire about this product’s popularity. “It comes as no surprise,” he continues. “They’re 300-400 per cent more efficient than most conventional systems and less expensive to operate.”
Although our initial outlay for installation would be pricier than a typical furnace, we liked the idea that it would pay off in the long run. Our monthly bill would be much cheaper than going with natural gas, oil or propane, and up to a third less than if we chose straight electric heat. Within seven to 10 years, we’d be able to re-coop this cost and literally cash in on this unlimited natural supply.
We also discovered that our savings wouldn’t be the only perk. While lowering the need to generate power, there’d be no emission of greenhouse gases that pollute our environment. That would sure please our supplier, Mother Earth. And without burning fossil fuels, the cleaner air would make its way indoors. I could already hear my lungs breathe a sigh of relief. There’d be no risks associated with carbon monoxide, no concern about open flames, and no fluctuation of our thermostat. With the continuous geothermal supply our heat would always remain at a constant and comfortable temperature – even when arriving at our cottage on a cold wintry night. Yes, we would all be happy cottagers, indeed!
But before we could fire up the system, there was work to do. Keith explained the four basic ways that we could transfer geothermal energy into our 3,000-square foot retreat. We could go vertical, and literally strike it rich by drilling six, 60-metre wells. That would mean bringing in a rig and crew which would end up being costly. The adjacent lake offered a vast reservoir of renewable thermal power. Even though an open loop system could draw on this natural resource, Big Bar’s eco-sensitive council would likely frown. Our well could be tapped into, but it was already overloaded, so we quickly ditched this third option. Speaking of ditches, that led to our fourth and final choice – the horizontal system. Fortunately, we were blessed with having an additional acre of unused land, where two-metre-deep trenches could house the 1,220 metres of pipe.
We brought in the local excavator and our field of desert-like grass was soon transformed into a maze of giant, gopher-like gullies. Tubes of high-density polyethylene were laid to rest, after which these graves were backfilled. The closed loop system was filled with an ethanol solution that dubbed as a highly efficient heat conductor. Warmth was then absorbed from the ground and pumped into the geothermal unit located in our house. The unit extracted the heat from the solution, distributed it through our vents, and we soon had one very warm and cozy abode!
We not only save money every month, but by heating from the ground up, we are also contributing to the go green approach. How down to earth is that?
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