Energy Conservation and Geo
The EPA found that, even on a source-fuel basis, (accounting for ALL losses in the fuel cycle, including electricity generation at power plants) ground source heat pumps are much more efficient than competing fuel technologies. On average, they are 48% more efficient than the best gas furnaces on a source-fuel basis and over 75% more efficient than oil furnaces. In fact, today’s best GSHP systems outperform the best gas technology, gas-fired heat pumps, by an average of 36% in heating mode and 43% in cooling mode:
- Installation of 100,000 typically-sized residential geothermal systems corresponds to an annual savings of more than 37.5 trillion Btu’s of energy used for space conditioning and water heating.
- Installation of 100,000 typically-sized residential GSHP systems also corresponds to an annual reduction of foreign oil consumption by 2.15 million barrels and an annual electricity consumption reduction of 799 million kilowatt hours, strengthening our nation’s energy security.
- The use of geothermal heating and cooling technology lowers electricity demand by approximately 1 kW per ton of capacity.
- Ground source heat pump can reduce energy consumption (and corresponding emissions) by more than 40% compared to air source heat pumps and by over 70% compared to electric resistance heating with standard air-conditioning equipment.
The statements here were taken directly from:
IGSHPA (2009) and the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium.