Indiana Renewable Energy Association
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IN THIS ISSUE: 15 Dec. 2009
Do you read the blog?
InREA is the new state chapter of ASES
How long do you idle your car?
Lobbying Group Formed
Four Municipal Utilities Propose Net Metering Tariffs
Energy Town Hall Meeting Jan. 7th
Study Shows No Impact of Wind Projects
Signs of Hope
Vote Solar Launches "Project: Permit"
Vectren Files Rate Case
Geothermal Heat Pump Identity Crisis?
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How long do you idle your car? 
 

Q. Does letting a car idle waste more gas than shutting off and restarting the engine? If so, at what point, time-wise?

 

A. Just 10 seconds of idling uses as much gas as restarting your car, according to the California Energy Commission Consumer Energy Center, which recommends you shut off your car when you're parked (at a drive-through business, for instance) for more than 10 seconds. Allow a car to idle for two minutes, and you'll use as much fuel as you would driving one mile. That's noteworthy, considering the average driver lets the car idle for five to 10 minutes per day. And besides wasting gas, excessive idling can damage cylinders, spark plugs and the exhaust system.

 

Several years ago, Edmunds.com did a comparison of various gas-saving measures. To test the cost of idling, testers drove two cars for 10 miles-they stopped 10 times and idled for two minutes each time. Then testers drove the same route but turned off the engine and restarted at each of the 10 stops. They estimated nearly 20 percent fuel savings on the restarted cars.

 
Lobbying Group Formed to Advocate for Distributed Generation
 
A new organization has been formed that will serve as a sister organization to InREA. InREA is organized as a non-profit that does not engage in lobbying activities.
 
The new group is called Indiana Distributed Energy Advocates, Inc. or IDEA and will lobby the Indiana General Assembly on issues such as net metering changes and creation of Advanced Renewable Energy Contracts or Feed-in Tariffs.
 
WATCH FOR DETAILS! 
 
 
Greetings!

I would like to introduce the three newly elected members of the Board of Directors of the Indiana Renewable Energy Association.

 

John Haselden, Indianapolis Power & Light

 

John Haselden is a Principal Engineer in Corporate Affairs at Indianapolis Power and Light Company (IPL). He works in the evaluation, planning and regulatory approval process of environmental compliance options, renewable resources and Demand Side Management (DSM) programs at IPL. He is the author of IPL's Rate REP (Renewable Energy Production) feed-in tariff currently awaiting approval by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

 

He has over eighteen years of experience at IPL and has worked in engineering, planning, fuel supply and marketing and was also the Director of Engineering for a regional railroad before rejoining IPL in his present position. He graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He also graduated from Indiana University with a Master of Business Administration. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Indiana.

 

Chris Striebeck, Integrated Development Services

 

Chris Striebeck is a graduate of Wabash College and the Indiana University Schools of Law and Business and has completed his Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation for new construction. He is currently the principal of Integrated Development Services, Inc. (IDS) which is a design+build development and project management firm that specializes in customized commercial and residential turn-key projects. The company offers solution-oriented building energy assessments which identify, analyze and implement specific solutions to improve building energy conservation and efficiency, and the creation of clean distributed renewable energy generation.

 

Chris pledged if elected to the board, he would primarily seek to increase its internal organization and efficiency in communications, membership, and financial strength; all of which would further enable InREA to accomplish its core mission of renewable energy education.

 

Mac Williams, INVERDE, LLC

 

Mac Williams is a LEED Accredited Professional with backgrounds in both Architecture and Mechanical Engineering. He currently runs his own design and consulting firm, INVERDE, LLC in Fishers, IN specializing in energy-efficient and green residential design as well as LEED consulting. Mac is also a recent adjunct faculty member of Ball State University's College of Architecture.

 

Mac has been a frequent speaker at Indiana "green" events to promote and educate for green building and is perhaps most noted for his leadership in the growth and recognition of the US Green Building Council's Indiana Chapter. He was instrumental in securing more than $85,000 in grant monies from both the State of Indiana and USGBC National to promote the chapter's development. Mac was also the originator and chair of the Indiana Building Green Symposium (IBGS) which is now a USGBC-led annual conference attended by more than 400 A/E/C professionals yearly. Mac pledged to apply his experience and creative thinking toward a similar path of development for InREA.

 

A BIG THANK YOU to the three outgoing board members: TJ Kanczuzewski, Inovateus Solar; Brad Morton, Morton Solar & Wind; and Gary Washington, Solar Usage Now.  
 
Happy Holidays!
 
Laura Ann Arnold, President
InREA Board of Directors
 
P.S. Board members are elected to a three-year term and are required to be members of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES).

Four Municipal Electric Utilities Propose Net Metering Tariffs

 

Anderson Municipal Light & Power, Columbia City Municipal Utilities, Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power and Lebanon Utilities submitted proposed net metering tariffs to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) on 12/02/09 under the 30-day filing procedure. Although the Commission's net metering rules are not applicable to municipal electric utilities, the proposed tariffs are similar to those currently in effect for Investor-Owned Utilities (IOU's). The principal difference, however, is that the proposed net metering tariffs would be available to residential, commercial and industrial customers not just residential and K-12 schools.

 

The cover letter to the IURC states: "The intent of the proposed net metering tariffs is to encourage small-scale renewable energy projects which allow users a measure of energy independence, without jeopardizing the safety, energy cost or quality of service of other customers."

 

The tariffs were developed with the assistance of the utilities' wholesale electric power supplier, the Indiana Municipal Power Agency.

 

The proposed net metering tariffs were approved by the Common Council of each city as follows:

 

Anderson on Sept. 10, 2009,

Lebanon on Aug. 10, 2009,

Crawfordsville on June 9, 2009, and

Columbia City on Nov. 24, 2009.

 

These four municipal electric utilities have not opted out of IURC rate regulation and therefore, are required to file such proposed changes in their rates.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Faith-based Town Hall Meeting Jan. 7th
to Explore Energy Future
 

State Senators Merritt and Breaux

 to Discuss Indiana's Energy Issues

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS - Energy experts and Indiana Senate leaders on utility issues will explore Indiana's energy future at a town hall-style meeting on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, at Epworth United Methodist Church. The Indiana Renewable Energy Association (InREA) is one of the group's sponsoring the meeting. Eric Cotton with ECI Wind and Solar and VP of the InREA Board of Directors will discuss the need for changes in net metering.

 

All are invited to attend Green Energy-Green Jobs: A Legislative Town Hall Meeting and Information Fair at 6450 Allisonville Road from 6-9 p.m. In particular, people of faith are invited to learn about energy issues in Indiana and how to get involved in shaping our energy future.

 

The town hall meeting will be held from 7:30 to 9:00 and will feature a panel of experts talking about Indiana's current energy environment, followed by a town hall discussion with Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, and Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis. The discussion will be moderated by Jon Schwantes of WFYI's Indiana Lawmakers.

 

Senator Merritt chairs the Indiana Senate's Utilities and Technology Committee and Senator Breaux is its ranking minority member. In 2009, close to 50 bills and resolutions were introduced in the Indiana General Assembly related to energy, utilities, coal, renewable energy, net metering and other energy-related issues. This public forum will provide a preview of energy issues in the 2010 General Assembly and how citizens can get involved in the debate.

 

Audience members are encouraged to submit questions in advance for Senators Merritt and Breaux to [email protected].

 

The event also will include an information fair from 6 to 7:30 p.m., featuring exhibits on renewable energy, faith-based environmental stewardship and how to get involved in legislative issues. Light refreshments will also be available.

 

The event is co-sponsored by Epworth United Methodist Green Team, Indianapolis Green Congregations, Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana Renewable Energy Association and the Indianapolis Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.

 

If you have questions about this event, call 251-1481 or email [email protected] .

 

 

Media Contact:

Jodi Perras

317-407-0148

[email protected]

 
  
Exhibitor Information
 

Epworth United Methodist Church is seeking exhibitors for an information fair on green energy and green jobs on Thursday, January 7, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Eight-foot or four-foot display tables will be provided at no charge to groups who want to set up information relating to the environment, energy, green businesses or the Indiana General Assembly. Please bring your own table cloth.

 

The event will be held at Epworth, 6450 Allisonville Road, Indianapolis. Space is limited; please reserve your spot today.

 
--------------------------------------------------
 

Organization Name:       

 

Brief Description of Display:       

 

Size of Display Table (select one):     8-foot          4-foot  

 

Contact Person:       

 

Street Address:       

 

City:         State:         ZIP:       

 

Telephone:       

 

Email:       

 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Return this form to [email protected] or Epworth United Methodist Church, 6450 Allisonville Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46220, by January 4, 2010.

 

For more information, call Epworth United Methodist Church at 251-1481.

New Berkeley Lab Study Finds No Widespread Impact of Wind Power Projects on Surrounding Residential Property Values in the U.S.

 

Berkeley, CA-Over 30,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity are installed across the U.S. and an increasing number of communities are considering new wind power facilities. Given these developments, there is an urgent need to empirically investigate typical community concerns about wind energy and thereby provide stakeholders involved in the wind project siting process a common base of knowledge. A major new report released today by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory evaluates one of those concerns, and finds that proximity to wind energy facilities does not have a pervasive or widespread adverse effect on the property values of nearby homes.

 

The new report, funded by the DOE, is based on site visits, data collection, and analysis of almost 7,500 single-family home sales, making it the most comprehensive and data-rich analysis to date on the potential impact of U.S. wind projects on residential property values.

 

"Neither the view of wind energy facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities was found to have any consistent, measurable, and significant effect on the selling prices of nearby homes," says report co-author Ben Hoen, a consultant to Berkeley Lab.  "No matter how we looked at the data, the same result kept coming back - no evidence of widespread impacts."

 

The team of researchers for the project collected data on homes situated within 10 miles of 24 existing wind facilities in nine different U.S. states; the closest home was 800 feet from a wind facility.  Each home in the sample was visited to collect important on-site information such as whether wind turbines were visible from the home.  The home sales used in the study occurred between 1996 and 2007, spanning the period prior to the announcement of each wind energy facility to well after its construction and full-scale operation. 

 

The conclusions of the study are drawn from eight different hedonic pricing models, as well as repeat sales and sales volume models.  A hedonic model is a statistical analysis method used to estimate the impact of house characteristics on sales prices.  None of the models uncovered conclusive statistical evidence of the existence of any widespread property value effects that might be present in communities surrounding wind energy facilities.

 

"It took three years to collect all of the data and analyze more than 50 different statistical model specifications," says co-author and project manager Ryan Wiser of Berkeley Lab, "but without that amount of effort, we would not have been confident we were giving stakeholders the best information possible." 

 

"Though the analysis cannot dismiss the possibility that individual homes or small numbers of homes have been negatively impacted, it finds that if these impacts do exist, their frequency is too small to result in any widespread, statistically observable impact," he added.

 

The analysis revealed that home sales prices are very sensitive to the overall quality of the scenic vista from a property, but that a view of a wind energy facility did not demonstrably impact sales prices.  The Berkeley Lab researchers also did not find statistically observable differences in prices for homes located closer to wind facilities than those located further away, or for homes that sold after the announcement or construction of a wind energy facility when compared to those selling prior to announcement.  Even for those homes located within a one-mile distance of a wind project, the researchers found no persuasive evidence of a property value impact.

 

"Although studies that have investigated residential sales prices near conventional power plants, high voltage transmission lines, and roads have found some property value impacts," says co-author and San Diego State University Economics Department Chair Mark Thayer, "the same cannot be said for wind energy facilities, at least given our sample of transactions."

 

Berkeley Lab is a DOE national laboratory located in Berkeley, California.  It conducts unclassified scientific research for DOE's Office of Science and is managed by the University of California. Visit our Website at www.lbl.gov/  

 

Additional Information

 

The report, "The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis," can be downloaded from:

http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/re-pubs.html

 

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing key findings from the study can be found at:

http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/emp-ppt.html  

 

For more information about DOE's Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program, see http://windandhydro.energy.gov/  

 

For more information on the report, contact Ben Hoen ([email protected]  845-758-1896) or Ryan Wiser ([email protected]  510-486-5474).

 

Signs of Hope

 

November 24, 2009

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist

 

By BOB HERBERT, Detroit

 

I came to Detroit and its environs, the seat of America's glorious industrial past, to see if I could get a glimpse of the future. Is the economic, social and physical deterioration that has caused so much misery in the Motor City a sign of what's in store for larger and larger segments of the United States?

 

Or are there new industries waiting in the wings - some of them right here in the Detroit metropolitan area - with new jobs and bright new prospects for whole new generations of American dreamers?

 

I found real reason to hope when a gentleman named Stan Ovshinsky took me on a tour of a remarkably quiet and pristine manufacturing plant in Auburn Hills, which is about 30 miles north of Detroit and is home to Chrysler's headquarters. What is being produced in the plant is potentially revolutionary. A machine about the length of a football field runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, turning out mile after mile after mile of thin, flexible solar energy material, from which solar panels can be sliced and shaped.

 

You want new industry in the United States, with astonishing technological advances, new mass production techniques and jobs, jobs, jobs? Try energy.

 

Mr. Ovshinsky knows as much or more about the development and production of alternative energy as anyone on the planet. He developed the technology and designed the production method that made it possible to produce solar material "by the mile." When he proposed the idea years ago, based on the science of amorphous materials, which he invented, he was ridiculed.

 

But the thin-film photovoltaic solar panel was just one of his revolutionary ideas. He invented the nickel metal hydride battery that is in virtually all hybrid vehicles on the road today. And when I pulled into the parking lot outside his office in Bloomfield Hills, he promptly installed me in the driver's seat of a hydrogen hybrid prototype - a car in which the gasoline tank had been replaced with a safe solid-state hydrogen storage system invented by Mr. Ovshinsky.

 

Within minutes, I was driving along a highway in a car that produced zero pollution. No carbon footprint whatsoever. How's that for a wave of the future?

 

The point is that these (and many more) brilliant, innovative technologies are here. They are real, tangible. They exist. What's needed now is the will to develop policies that will vastly expand these advances and radically reduce their costs. The United States should be leading the world in the creation of whole new energy technologies and industries, instead of allowing the forces of the old carbon-based industries - coal, oil, gasoline-powered vehicles - to stand obstinately in the way of real progress.

 

"Now," Mr. Ovshinsky told me, "is when we have to build the new industries of the future." He has always been driven by the desire to use science and technology to solve the real-world problems of real people, and that has meant creating employment and stopping the pollution of the planet. He and his late wife, Iris, formed a company (to become known as Energy Conversion Devices) in Detroit in 1960 with the idea of using their considerable talents, as he put it, "to do good, to change the world."

 

After nearly a half-century of revolutionary innovations with the company, Mr. Ovshinsky retired two years ago to focus his attention on the difficult and time-consuming effort to make solar energy economically competitive with coal and oil. "I know solar energy can't live up to its possibilities unless it's a hell of a lot cheaper," he said.

 

He believes he has assembled a team that, with sustained, intense work under his direction - and if sufficient funding can be secured - will bring the price of solar power below that of coal and oil within a few years.

 

What's weird is that this man, with such a stellar track record of innovation on products and processes crucial to the economic and environmental health of the U.S., gets such little attention and so little support from American policy makers. In addition to his work with batteries, photovoltaics and hydrogen fuel cells, his inventions have helped open the door to flat-screen televisions, new forms of computer memory and on and on.

 

So when Stan Ovshinsky tells us that we should be putting our chips on hybrid and electric vehicles, and that solar and hydrogen power can be the cornerstone of an industrial renaissance in the U.S. as well as a cleaner planet, we should be listening very, very closely.

 

As oil defined the 20th century, new forms of energy will define the 21st. The U.S. has the opportunity, the intellectual resources and the expertise to lead the world in the development of clean energy. What we've lacked so far has been the courage, the will, to make it happen.

 

 Vote Solar Launches "Project: Permit"

 

When it comes time to install a new solar system, the local permitting process can be a walk in the park or a nasty bureaucratic headache. Inefficient permitting means more time waiting in lines and higher end costs for solar customers. Vote Solar launched a new campaign to empower folks like you to improve solar permitting in cities nationwide.

 

We call it: Project: Permit.

 
 

We are partnering with solar supporters across the country to compile data on current permitting practices.  You can see how cities measure up against best practices on our interactive permitting map.  If you don't see data entered for your city, please consider helping us gather the information. If your hometown has high fees or long turn-around times, check out our online toolkit. You'll find resources to help you work with city officials to make improvements.

 

Annie Carmichael and the Vote Solar Team

 

The Vote Solar Initiative

300 Brannan Street, Suite 609

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.votesolar.org

http://twitter.com/votesolar

 
Vectren Files Rate Case--
 Requests Decoupling

EVANSVILLE, IN--(Marketwire - December 11, 2009) - Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana - South (Vectren) (NYSE: VVC) today filed a request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) for a base rate increase for its southwestern Indiana electric utility. The regulatory filing requests approval of the increase to address capital investments in its energy delivery infrastructure, a modified electric rate structure that facilitates a partnership between the company and customers to pursue energy efficiency and conservation, and new energy efficiency programs to complement those currently offered for natural gas customers.

More than half of the request to increase rates is driven by the need to recover costs associated with the roughly $325 million spent in infrastructure construction within the past three years that was needed in its seven-county service territory, which serves more than 140,000 customers. Most of the remainder of the request is to account for declines in overall sales attributed to the recession, which has resulted in a cost recovery shortfall. Additionally, the rate increase reflects a slight increase in the utility's annual operating and maintenance costs.

As proposed, a typical residential combination gas and electric customer who uses around 900 kilowatt hours per month would experience a monthly bill increase of about $18.

"We recognize this is a challenging economy in which to seek a rate increase, and we are committed to working with customers who may find themselves challenged to pay," said Niel Ellerbrook, Vectren chairman and CEO. "We have worked aggressively to manage costs and have cut costs where possible. However, we cannot delay or cut projects indefinitely without jeopardizing the safety of our system and the customer -- we are nearing that crossroads. Furthermore, the need to attract capital to provide safe, reliable service will only continue. We must maintain the level of service our customers expect and ensure the financial stability of the company. Unfortunately, there are times in which rate adjustments are the only way to do that."

The proposed rate design, often referred to as decoupling, will break the link between customers' consumption and the utility's rate of return, thereby, aligning the utility's and customers' interests in using less energy. This approach has already been successfully implemented for Vectren's gas utilities.

If approved as filed, the energy efficiency programs will include automatic discounts through various retailers on compact fluorescent light bulbs, rebates for the early retirement of older, inefficient appliances, including refrigerators and window-unit air conditioners, and custom programs for high-efficiency lighting for small business customers. Vectren has also proposed to establish on-site energy audits for both residential and small commercial customers.

"Our planned energy efficiency programs will fundamentally change our relationship with our customers and will allow us to more effectively partner with them to use electricity wisely and efficiently," added Ellerbrook. "In our current rate structure, customers must use more energy in order for us to recover our costs, and that approach simply makes no sense given the need to conserve and more efficiently utilize our natural resources. This is particularly true as the country attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to deal with climate change concerns."

The request also includes a plan to install dense pack technology on two generating units at the company's A.B. Brown power plant in Posey County, Ind. The $35-million project, which will be completed in two phases over 2012 and 2013, will enhance generation efficiency and ultimately help delay the need for a new generating plant, which would require a much higher capital expenditure. By improving the units' efficiency, Vectren can use less fuel and reduce emissions, including carbon, up to 5 percent. The company is requesting the project costs be placed into base rates in 2013 upon project completion.

Key investments since the last rate adjustment include:

  • $150 million for new infrastructure, including new substations, poles and underground and overhead transmission and distribution lines. Key projects include a $15 million expenditure to expand the Oak Grove substation on Evansville's east side, which will ensure reliability in the region and foster continued expansion, and $19 million and $14 million projects in the McCutchanville and Pigeon Creek areas, respectively.
  • $99 million to install a scrubber at its coal-fired generation unit, Warrick Unit 4, which is located near the F.B. Culley power plant in Warrick County. Although customers' bills have already been adjusted for the majority of the costs incurred for this project, the filing will shift the investment into base rates.
  • $11 million for the Blackfoot Clean Energy Facility, a landfill-gas-to-electricity project that was brought online earlier this summer and provides 3.2 megawatts (MW) of cost-effective renewable energy to Vectren's electric customers or enough to power 2,000 homes.
  • Approximately $20 million to construct storage, conveyor and loading equipment to avoid the continued landfilling of fly ash, a by-product of coal-fired generation, and instead provide for the beneficial reuse of that material by providing it to a company in Missouri for use in cement manufacturing. This project will minimize the impact of fly ash disposal on the environment, as well as avoid the future cost of placing the fly ash into a landfill.

The Warrick Unit 4 scrubber concludes a spend of more than $410 million over the past several years, in which Vectren's generation fleet is now 100 percent scrubbed for sulfur dioxide, 90 percent controlled for nitrogen oxide and filtered for particulate matter and a significant portion of mercury from the flue gas before exiting the stacks, which directly improves the air quality of southwestern Indiana. Only approximately 35 percent of Indiana's generation (megawatts) will be able to meet the proposed air pollutant limits to be finalized in 2011. Vectren's coal fired generation fleet is included in that group. Thus, these investments make Vectren's generation fleet one of the cleanest in the Midwest.

"Our decision several years ago to aggressively move forward with significant investments in emission control equipment has us well ahead of neighboring electric companies and exemplifies our commitment to the environment," said Ellerbrook. "Other electric companies will also experience rate adjustments as they make significant investments in the coming years in an attempt to reach the level of emissions control that Vectren has already achieved."

Vectren has established an informational web site, http://www.vectren.com/ratecase, to help customers understand the rate case process and elements of the filing. Customers can access frequently asked questions, watch a video on the need for a rate case, review the proposed energy efficiency programs and incentives and find resources to help lower bills year-round.

The regulatory filing begins a comprehensive review by the IURC that will take several months to a year and will include at least one public hearing. The IURC will examine Vectren's investments to serve customers and the reasonableness of its operating costs as part of the regulatory process to ultimately determine final rates.

Vectren's electric utility serves more than 140,000 in all or portions of Dubois, Gibson, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties.

About Vectren
Vectren Corporation (NYSE: VVC) is an energy holding company headquartered in Evansville, Ind. Vectren's energy delivery subsidiaries provide gas and/or electricity to more than one million customers in adjoining service territories that cover nearly two-thirds of Indiana and west central Ohio. Vectren's nonutility subsidiaries and affiliates currently offer energy-related products and services to customers throughout the Midwest and Southeast. These include gas marketing and related services; coal production and sales; and energy infrastructure services. To learn more about Vectren, visit http://www.vectren.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements made in good faith by the company and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management and include such words as "believe", "anticipate", "endeavor", "estimate", "expect", "objective", "projection", "forecast", "goal", "likely", and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Vectren cautions readers that the assumptions forming the basis for forward-looking statements include many factors that are beyond Vectren's ability to control or estimate precisely and actual results could differ materially from those contained in this document. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which our statement is made, and we assume no duty to update them. More detailed information about these factors is set forth in Vectren's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Vectren's 2008 annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 19, 2009.  

Geothermal Heat Pump Identity Crisis?
 

An excerpt from: Monitoring Geothermal Heat Pump Performance. See www.onsetcomp.com.

The geothermal heat pump (GHP) offers one of the most effective ways to save energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions from buildings. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says this appliance stands as one of the most energy efficient and environmentally-benign of our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning options. Installing geothermal heat pumps to their full potential nationwide could cut by nearly half the amount of new power generation needed by 2030.

The numbers are impressive. Geothermal heat pumps would:

  • Avert construction of 91 GW to 105 GW of generation capacity, which is 42% to 48% of the 218 GW of new power the US will need in 2030
  • Save $33 to $38 billion annually in reduced utility bills1

Yet installations of geothermal heat pumps remain relatively few. What's the problem? The energy industry needs to do a better job making the case for this valuable technology. A US Department of Energy (DOE) report says that to grow the market, the industry needs to present more hard data and analysis on system performance.

Such data would serve two purposes. First, it would underscore the technology's superiority to policy makers and consumers. Second, it would enable installers to maximize the potential of the technology.

Geothermal heat pumps suffer from a bit of an identity crisis. Consumers often believe that geothermal heat pumps are unavailable for their use because they confuse the technology with power production from geothermal geysers. While the two technologies share the world "geothermal", in reality they are completely different.

 

Geothermal geyser technology is used for power plants in areas of underground geysers and hot springs, typically confined to parts of the country where magma is close to the Earth's surface. Steam is trapped and directed to spin turbine generators in the power plant.

 

Geothermal heat pumps, on the other hand, are a form of distributed energy that can be used virtually anywhere a building sits on the ground. They do not fuel power plants, but rather, are appliances to heat and cool buildings or provide hot water.

 

 What do you think?

Welcome New InREA Members!
 
Individual Members: 

Jeffrey Louis Kaden 
Randy K. Lawn
Steven Park
Craig Shumaker

Business/Professional Members:
 
Design-Aire Engineering, Inc.
 
EcoSource
 
General Sheet Metal Works, Inc.
GreenWorks Energy, LLC
G-Tech Energy
GW Worldwide LLC
Midwest Wind and Solar LLC
One Planet Solar
Owens Engineers, Inc.
Plus 5 National Electrical Contractors Association
Solar Energy Systems LLC
Springcreek Landscaping & Nursery, Inc.
Take Action Solar & Wind
Viridian Systems
Wabash Valley Power Associatin, Inc.
WESCO Wind
 
New members who joined from 9/01/09 - 11/30/09.
 
Please visit the InREA Membership Directory.
 
If you are a new Business/Professional Member and you are not listed in the Membership Directory, it could be that you have not sent us your Membership Application.