Anybody have Geothermal heating/cooling? (new house, heat pump, contractors)

[Teresa1127]

We're hoping to build a new house and have been looking into solar panels and Geothermal heating. just wondering if anybody has a geothermal system and their experience with it. Are you happy with it? Also curious about the cost of the system vs. gas.

[oceanjunkie]

My father looked into converting their house to geo. First off, it was hard even finding someone on LI that can do it, and when he finally got an estimate it was quite a bit more $$$ than he expected. I've also heard that if you ever have a problem with the system, it's hard to get somebody in to fix it right away. It's too bad, b/c on paper geo makes a lot of sense.....maybe the high oil prices will spur the start of more geo contractors on LI.

[alexei27]

I worked with one of LIPA's emergency managers at the debate the other night. His next door neighbor (in is "off the grid" as far as electricity with solar power. He says the guy actually produces enough to sell back a few KW to LIPA each month. His system cost about 20K AFTER the rebates...which I believe are 30%. One of the largest expenses is capacity to store energy at night.

The LIPA guy has solar hot water for his house and hot tub. That cost him about $2500 after rebates.

[Sunny H]

People all over America use Geothermal successfully and entire systems can be installed reasonably. More than a standard system, but still reasonably. Better yet, the cost of installation can be paid back in 5 to 7 years through savings. We are just behind the times here on LI. Many installers are not that experienced and most charge way more than a system would cost elsewhere. They need to step it up.

For lots of good information go to the forums on: Geothermal Heating & Air Conditioning and GreenBuildingTalk - Green Building Forums on Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), Radiant Heating, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Power