As the cool weather of fall arrives, our thoughts turn to staying warm and how to do it without creating big energy bills. Could Geothermal be the answer for new homes?

Geothermal heating and cooling systems are considered to be the most energy-efficient, environmentally clean and cost-effective heating and cooling systems available today and subdivisions across North America are claiming geothermal technology as their source of heat in the cool months and cool air during the hot summer months, but how does it all work?

To keep this explanation incredibly simple and as I understand it in my own home, Geothermal works on the principle that the earth or ground water, below the frost line remains at the constant temperature of some where between 7 and 24 degrees Celsius depending upon where you live. This ground temperature is warmer than the cool winter air outside our homes and cooler than the hot summer air, so basically the principle is, if we can loop liquid (water) through ground pipes that lay below the frost line, we can reheat the water as it travels back into the ground during the cool months or conversely send or sink hot air into the ground for cooling the water as it loops back through the earth.

There are two basic types of geothermal systems, closed loop or open loop. Closed loop systems circulate a fluid mixture of water and anti freeze within the buried pipes, while an open loop system circulates well or surface water. Remember that heat always flows from higher temperature matter to lower temperature matter by conduction. A geothermal system will use a heat pump and heat exchangers or a series of heat pumps and exchangers to extract the heat from the fluid or water and then to send it back into the home, basically, heat is harvested from one source and delivered to another. Conventional ductwork is usually employed to distribute the hot or cool air throughout the home.

Most geothermal systems are used for both heating and cooling the home; these systems generally use up to 75 % less electricity than conventional heating and cooling systems and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% or more than conventional systems. A geothermal system can also be used to heat the homes domestic water, the system can be designed to transfer excess heat into the homes hot water tank, and some systems will require a booster at the out site to boost the domestic waters temperature.

There is no question that geothermal is the way of the future it is one of the fastest growing applications for renewable energy. Unfortunately, at least for now, the cost of a geothermal system (two to three times more than conventional systems) is a prohibitive factor. Fortunately, the cost of a geothermal system is becoming more reasonable every day as technology increases and manufactures find ways to build less expensive systems and the savings are sensational, approximately 30-60 % reduction on your heating and cooling bills and as our electrical and gas bills continue to escalate this savings could be even greater.

Cheryll Gillespie is a nationally syndicated Design and Décor columnist.