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Tim
Paulson says geothermal home heating and cooling systems
harvest energy from the Earth.
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With all the talk about global warming,
as well as the rising cost of heating our homes, most of us feel a
little twinge of guilt at pumping up our thermostats when things feel
a little chilly.
Not Jean McFadden. At least not since
the McFadden family replaced its home heating and air-conditioning
system with a geothermal system.
"I feel OK about leaving the house
just a little bit warmer now," she says.
Geothermal systems rely on Mother Earth
to keep a home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The system
uses a series of pipes — also known as a loop — that is installed
underground to help gather the Earth’s natural heat in the winter
and release the excess heat from a home in the summer.
"We knew we were going to do an
addition and some remodeling on our house, and my brother and cousin
told us to really look at this system," McFadden says.
After some initial research, McFadden
says it seemed like the right fit for their project; it was installed
in September.
Living on the surface of the Earth
means we’re subject to its wide temperature extremes, but starting
about 4 feet below the surface, the Earth maintains a consistent
temperature of about 50 degrees here in Wisconsin. Geothermal systems
take advantage of that, mining the energy from the Earth.
While a geothermal system is a more
expensive alternative to a conventional heating and cooling system,
the investment offers a long-term payback, says Tim Paulson of
American Indoor Environments, the providers of the McFaddens’
system.
The systems, which are still relatively
new, are growing in popularity.
"Just as people are looking for
more fuel-efficient automobiles, they want their homes to be energy
efficient also," Paulson says. " It is the only renewable
energy solution that is not influenced by the sun or weather."
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