ᐅ Geothermal Energy: Pros and Cons?

Created on: 2 Jul 2014 20:22
B
bswunde
This question has probably been asked many times before, but I just have to ask again:

What do you think about geothermal heating? Has anyone built with this system? Pros and cons? How do you all heat your homes?

Best regards!
L
Legurit
9 Jan 2016 16:55
What type of house do you have?
We installed the 58/4 model and had two boreholes of 70 m (230 ft) drilled – the total cost for drilling ended up at 9,200 € gross (considerably more than initially expected). What can or should be drilled in your case will depend on your soil – ours, for example, was only moderately suitable, with an average of 39 W/m.
When backfilling the boreholes, make sure to use a material with high thermal conductivity; we also used ThermoCem but probably only the basic version – unfortunately, nothing else was ever offered.

And finally: even if it’s not perfect, it might only cost you about 40 € more per year in heating costs, so don’t stress too much.
ERR is also a topic worth reading up on – it seems you can probably do without it.
C
cumpa
10 Jan 2016 01:31
We are building a KFW 55 house with a basement, half of which will be heated. It will have two full floors with a base dimension of 11.35 x 9.85 meters (37.2 x 32.3 feet).
C
cumpa
10 Jan 2016 17:10
Who has a similar setup to ours?
M
metamann
18 Jan 2016 10:11
The best option is to build a home directly into the earth at the base of a hill. This way, it stays warm in winter and cool in summer.
B
Bauexperte
18 Jan 2016 13:45
metamann schrieb:
The best option is to build an apartment directly into the ground, at the base of a hill. This way, it stays warm in winter and cool in summer.

Hobbit?

Best regards, Bauexperte
D
Doc.Schnaggls
18 Jan 2016 13:57
@ Bauexperte:

In my opinion, the most important aspect of a geothermal heating system is a thorough geological survey of the layers to be drilled.

Originally, we also planned to heat our house using geothermal energy, but after the drilling disaster in Leonberg (just a couple of towns away), we decided to go with an air-to-water heat pump instead.

At the end of last week, the report was published confirming that the soil uplifts observed there for years (now up to 47 cm (18.5 inches)!) were caused by a geothermal drilling operation.

The regulation of the resulting damage (several million) to buildings has been disputed by three insurance companies for years now.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m still very interested in this heating method, but the preliminary investigation and execution must be carried out with great care.

Regards,

Dirk