THE ECONOMICS OF GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL BUILDINGS

Abstract

Although introduced in the 1950s with a great deal of fanfare
and early publicity, geothermal heat pumps have yet to obtain
mainstream status among mechanical engineers and heating,
ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors. At the
present time, they make up only a small percentage of new
installations despite aggressive programs by government
agencies and utilities to commercialize the technology. The
most common reasons given for this lack of acceptance are
high capital cost and concerns over reliability and high maintenance
costs.

A lack of well-documented information relative to the real
life-cycle costs and maintenance requirements of geothermal
heat pump systems has contributed significantly to this view.
However, recently-completed research and a growing number
of case studies has begun to shed new light on the true
costs of geothermal heat pump systems versus other HVAC
alternatives. This recently-completed body of work points to
lower life-cycle costs for geothermal heat pump systems than
any of the alternatives, and, in fact, geothermal heat pump
systems were found to have lower first cost than several popular
alternatives. Broad acceptance of the technology may,
however, have to wait until additional collaborating studies can
be completed and published by well-recognized organizations
such as ASHRAE.