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GEOTHERMAL
HEATING
AND COOLING
SYSTEMS
There are two types of geothermal energy:
1. High grade
High-grade geothermal energy is the heat of the
earth’s pressure that turns water into stream. Old
Faithful at Yellowstone National Park is an excellent
example.
2. Low Grade
Low-grade geothermal energy is the heat within the
earth’s crust. This heat is actually stored solar
energy.
We will use the terms ‘low grade
geothermal’ or
‘geothermal’ throughout this presentation because it
is the most commonly used term.
These systems are also called GHP’s (geothermal
heat pumps), or GSHP’s (ground sourced heat
pumps), Earth-Coupled Heat Pumps, Earth-Coupled
Water Source Heat Pumps, Earth Exchange Systems
(EES), Geo-Exchange systems and underground
thermal energy storage systems (UTES). Which ever
of these names is used, this technology is the same.
To create a separate identity for the technology of
using “ground sourced” heat exchangers to provide
residential and commercial properties with heating
and cooling, the commercial name geoexchange has
been coined.
Like everything else, low-grade geothermal heat
pumps have a history.
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