The Details

Geothermal heating and cooling uses the same technology we all use to keep our food and beverages cold. That technology is called refrigeration. Refrigeration is a name we give to a process whereby something has it's temperature reduced by the removal of heat energy from it. We must remember that heat energy in the United States is commonly measured in units called BTU's or British Thermal Units. In the world around us, BTU's are constantly being moved by natural and mechanical processes. Refrigeration is one of these processes.

We refrigerate something because we want it "colder" meaning at a lesser temperature than it already is. We are also saying it has too many BTU's in it, we need to take some out. The temperature of an object is a reflection of the concentration of BTU's in it. If we take some out, we lower the temperature. If we put some in, we raise the temperature. Whenever we take BTU's out of something, those BTU's have to be put somewhere else. When we concentrate on the removal side of the process, we tend not to think about the other side. When we chill our food and beverages, we tend to think about the removal of BTU's and not the adding of those BTU's to something as part of the process. In our residential refrigerators, those BTU's are added to the air around the refrigerator.

A geothermal system connects the inside of a building with the earth beneath it. An exchange of BTU's between the two keeps the temperature inside the building constant and comfortable.

When the temperature inside the building is too warm, the geothermal unit takes just the right number of BTU's out of the building to make it cool and comfortable and puts those BTU's into the earth warming the earth just a little bit. Because of the tremendous ability of the earth to absorb and release BTU's, the earth hardly notices.

When the temperature inside the building gets too cool, the geothermal system changes direction and removes BTU's from the earth making it a little bit cooler and adds those BTU's to the inside of the building raising the temperature just enough to keep it warm and comfortable. Again, because of the tremendous ability of the earth to absorb and release BTU's, it hardly notices.