Environmental Burdens
Published Sunday March 3, 2013: Updated January 13, 2014
Environmental Burdens
IAs with any home improvement, there is an environmental burden that goes along with it.
I found it ironic that in order to install something as green and environmentally friendly as a geothermal ground loop, lots of dirty fossil fuel was consumed during in the drilling/construction process.
To install a geothermal ground loop at my house, the energy burden breakdown was as follows:
Even with such a dirty job like drilling wells 300' deep, the energy savings from no longer heating with fossil fuels quickly offset the environmental damage initially incurred.
This energy pollution caused by burning 80 gallons of diesel and 9 gallons of gasoline (3076 kWh total) is recovered in the form of energy savings of operating more efficient (and solar powered) equipment, in less than 26 winter heating days.
Besides the water lost into the ground during the drilling process, all of the water is re-circulated and re-used.
Equipment
The geothermal heat pump in my basement weights about 350 lbs. It has a lot of metal in it. I imagine a lot of natural resources and energy went into building it.
Fortunately geothermal heat pumps last twice as long as conventional air conditioning equipment.
R-22
The HCFC refrigerant that is used in most home A/C units is R-22. If allowed to enter the atmosphere, molecule for molecule, it would have a global warming potential 1700 times greater than CO2. It also depletes the ozone layer (but not nearly as bad as the old R-12 refrigerant did). Most A/C systems have an outdoor compressor and an indoor evaporator coil. Because of the distance separating between these two systems, it requires a lot more R-22 refrigerant.
R-410A
All newer air conditioning systems (including our heat-pump) now use R-410A instead of R-22. It has no ozone depleting potential but has a very high global warming potential (1890 times greater than CO2) if allowed to leak out into the atmosphere.
Our home's ground-loop heat pump has both the compressor and evaporator contained inside the same chassis. In this configuration, it uses a lot less of this environmentally harmful chemical.
64 ounces of R-410A in the heat pump vs. 214 ounces of R-22 for the old air conditioner.