One of the best ways to lower your building’s operating costs is to add energy efficient features. This can be done in a variety of ways, but nothing will have as big of an effect as selecting a heating and cooling system that uses renewable energy.
Space heating and cooling accounts for the largest amount of energy usage in a commercial building, at about 34%. One of the best ways to make a big difference in the amount of energy consumed for heating and cooling is to install a geothermal heating and cooling system, because it uses the free, abundant and renewable heat beneath your feet to provide heating and cooling.
Heat Pumps and Energy Efficiency
Where conventional heating and cooling equipment burns fuel or consumes electricity to create heat, geothermal heat pumps just move heat from one place to another. This means that in commercial applications, they can be anywhere from 400% to 800% efficient, depending on the configuration of the system.
To put this in perspective, electric heat is only 100% efficient. That means that for every one watt of electricity used, only one watt of heat energy is produced. In contrast, a traditionally configured geothermal system will produce 4.1 watts of heat for every one watt used (the additional three come from the ground.) If your geothermal system uses simultaneous heating and cooling, you could get as many as 8.2 watts of heat for every one watt of electricity.
This extreme energy efficiency means your heating costs will be significantly lower than if you were to use conventional heating and cooling equipment. These lower operating costs will improve your bottom line.
Heat Pumps Require No Maintenance
The energy efficiency of a geothermal system will help you save money on your monthly operating costs, but heat pumps also require almost no maintenance. The ground loop itself is a closed system that will last for the life of the building, and the heat pumps do not need regularly scheduled visits from maintenance technicians. This results in low repair costs and eliminates the need to replace equipment after only a few years. Many of our commercial heat pumps have been in operating for 20 years with only occasional repairs required.
Heat Pumps are Eligible for Rebates
Installing a geothermal system can be expensive, but many states and provinces offer rebates and tax credits for businesses that choose to install energy efficient HVAC equipment. These rebates can make the economic case for choosing geothermal heating and cooling even more compelling, and will reduce the overall “pay back” period for the equipment.
