You have to define impacts. Warming is generally beneficial so the “impacts” related to cold are lessened. Impacts are grossly exaggerated IMO and benefits are marginalized.
Ground source heat pumps will definitely lessen your personal environmental impact. As far as a massive impact worldwide, it depends on how many people use them.
Another benefit is how much you can save in electricity cost by using a geothermal heat pump as opposed to a typical HVAC system. even though the initial cost is more, they pay themselves off very quickly, sometimes in under 2 years.
The first priority should be to build houses etc that require no heating and cooling. It is a well understood discipline that has been around for years and with current practice and materials doesn’t mean having to build something that looks like a hideaway for a recluse! The Building Codes in many European countries are now moving more and more towards this goal. It works in climates as different as the far north of Scandinavia right down to the Mediterranean.
As for GSHP you will find that it has been in use in many European countries for more than 30 years and is widely known about and employed. Solar water heating systems are also gaining in acceptance and deployment.
All of these and many other initiatives are making an impact across Europe in reducing carbon emissions.
Great idea, steam could also drive turbine generators to produce electricity as well as for heating and cooling. When it catches on, the impact on the environment would be uncomprehensible.
In Missouri USA Cave temperature is around 58degrees. If you tap into that temperture source you don’t need to use a lot of energy to cool your house. Or heat it. If your starting from 58 degrees There is also Solar Radiant heat. I have been in a house that needed window “quilts” to keep out the suns radiant heat in the summer. Add these to Solar panels and wind energy and your way ahead in the energy money game. Also A green roof and trees around your home is a good idea.
Happy Caving Carroll
No, they give the illusion of savings because the energy is “cheaper” and they are responding to a symptom.
Buildings are designed and insulated for regional temperature so you can stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer. Energy systems including geo-thermal are designed to accommodate the losses of the building so if you have a crappy building design, the energy system is misrepresented.
I have been called to inspect new buildings with geo-thermal heating that had mold in them because of one room not being insulated properly.
I have inspected slab on grade buildings where the heating vents are in the ceiling trying to heat the building from the ceiling down to the floor and it shouldn’t be allowed. Heat rises and needs to be placed in the floor. The thermostat is 5 feet off the floor and this is more energy efficient.
The importance of energy efficiency can’t be overstated. Generating electricity and burning fossil fuels to heat our buildings creates emissions that are poison to our bodies.
Energy use is argued because people can’t see it. Buildings are designed with temperatures but signed off as compliant because it coudn’t be seen. Academia, Architects, Trades, Inspectors, Insurers, Consumers and Governments are actually blind about building performance. Temperature calculations were considered in a calculator.
Thermografix Consulting Corporation in Canada did several years of specialized temperature work to provide a visual of energy use in buildings. Their temperature work is going to give academia and professionals the ability to see temperature instead of calculation. You may find the images you see controversial, they are accurate temperature images with interpretation from qualified professionals. Your own state officials haven’t seen this information before.
Go to to see advanced thermal imaging applications of how buildings use energy in the winter. You will see municipalities are missing a lot of information as are realtors and building inspectors.
Go to and see the cause of global warming not being considered. Solar gain and the same UV that burn our skin is causing buildings to generate extreme heat the building isn’t designed for. We are responding to the symptoms with cheaper energy systems instead of addressing the source of the heat.
If you put geo-thermal energy systems in a home and the exterior of the building is generating extreme heat, are we addressing climate change? Go to the following link to see the letter Thermografix has sent to Western Governors and Canadian Western Provinces.
The toxicity associated with what we are doing on the surface of the planet in the name of economy is going to threaten our children’s ability to reproduce. Go to and scroll down to the picture of the fetus where you can link to the study on polluted newborns.
Why are we arguing about heat trapping gases while we generate heat close to boiling temperature with each new building? Why are building windows low-e and the rest of the exterior high-e?
May 12th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
yes!
its not new, first geothermal plants opened in the 1920s, and heat pumps were invented in the 1890s.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:22 am
You have to define impacts. Warming is generally beneficial so the “impacts” related to cold are lessened. Impacts are grossly exaggerated IMO and benefits are marginalized.
May 17th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Ground source heat pumps will definitely lessen your personal environmental impact. As far as a massive impact worldwide, it depends on how many people use them.
Another benefit is how much you can save in electricity cost by using a geothermal heat pump as opposed to a typical HVAC system. even though the initial cost is more, they pay themselves off very quickly, sometimes in under 2 years.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:50 am
The first priority should be to build houses etc that require no heating and cooling. It is a well understood discipline that has been around for years and with current practice and materials doesn’t mean having to build something that looks like a hideaway for a recluse! The Building Codes in many European countries are now moving more and more towards this goal. It works in climates as different as the far north of Scandinavia right down to the Mediterranean.
As for GSHP you will find that it has been in use in many European countries for more than 30 years and is widely known about and employed. Solar water heating systems are also gaining in acceptance and deployment.
All of these and many other initiatives are making an impact across Europe in reducing carbon emissions.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Great idea, steam could also drive turbine generators to produce electricity as well as for heating and cooling. When it catches on, the impact on the environment would be uncomprehensible.
May 25th, 2009 at 6:12 am
In Missouri USA Cave temperature is around 58degrees. If you tap into that temperture source you don’t need to use a lot of energy to cool your house. Or heat it. If your starting from 58 degrees There is also Solar Radiant heat. I have been in a house that needed window “quilts” to keep out the suns radiant heat in the summer. Add these to Solar panels and wind energy and your way ahead in the energy money game. Also A green roof and trees around your home is a good idea.
Happy Caving Carroll
May 25th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
No, they give the illusion of savings because the energy is “cheaper” and they are responding to a symptom.
Buildings are designed and insulated for regional temperature so you can stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer. Energy systems including geo-thermal are designed to accommodate the losses of the building so if you have a crappy building design, the energy system is misrepresented.
I have been called to inspect new buildings with geo-thermal heating that had mold in them because of one room not being insulated properly.
I have inspected slab on grade buildings where the heating vents are in the ceiling trying to heat the building from the ceiling down to the floor and it shouldn’t be allowed. Heat rises and needs to be placed in the floor. The thermostat is 5 feet off the floor and this is more energy efficient.
The importance of energy efficiency can’t be overstated. Generating electricity and burning fossil fuels to heat our buildings creates emissions that are poison to our bodies.
Energy use is argued because people can’t see it. Buildings are designed with temperatures but signed off as compliant because it coudn’t be seen. Academia, Architects, Trades, Inspectors, Insurers, Consumers and Governments are actually blind about building performance. Temperature calculations were considered in a calculator.
Thermografix Consulting Corporation in Canada did several years of specialized temperature work to provide a visual of energy use in buildings. Their temperature work is going to give academia and professionals the ability to see temperature instead of calculation. You may find the images you see controversial, they are accurate temperature images with interpretation from qualified professionals. Your own state officials haven’t seen this information before.
Go to to see advanced thermal imaging applications of how buildings use energy in the winter. You will see municipalities are missing a lot of information as are realtors and building inspectors.
Go to and see the cause of global warming not being considered. Solar gain and the same UV that burn our skin is causing buildings to generate extreme heat the building isn’t designed for. We are responding to the symptoms with cheaper energy systems instead of addressing the source of the heat.
If you put geo-thermal energy systems in a home and the exterior of the building is generating extreme heat, are we addressing climate change? Go to the following link to see the letter Thermografix has sent to Western Governors and Canadian Western Provinces.
The toxicity associated with what we are doing on the surface of the planet in the name of economy is going to threaten our children’s ability to reproduce. Go to and scroll down to the picture of the fetus where you can link to the study on polluted newborns.
Why are we arguing about heat trapping gases while we generate heat close to boiling temperature with each new building? Why are building windows low-e and the rest of the exterior high-e?