Facts about geothermal heating and cooling How much can I really save by installing a geothermal system? Your exact savings will be determained by many variables, such as your climate, thermostat setting and electric rate, among others.  Most homeowners will see a reduction of 30 to 70 percent in their heating and cooling costs. A study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that geothermal systems have the lowest lifecycle cost of all heating and cooling systems currently on the market.  Lower maintenance costs and longer expectancy of geothermal units should certainly be taken into consideration when determining true savings. To see how much a GeoComfort geothermal system can save you, please visit us at www.geocomfort.com/calculator.  Our proprietary savings calculator allows you to enter your home's information along with your existing utility and fossil fuel (a fuel such as coal, oil or natural gas that is formed in the earth from plant or animal remains. fossil fuels are nonrenewable sources of energy and their burning released greenhouse emission.) pricing to determine just how much an efficient GeoComfort geothermal system can save you versus alternative heating and coolong systems. Is geothermal heating and cooling technology new? Actually, the basic "modern" technology has been around for more than 50 years and improved upon ever since.  To date, over one million installations in the United States alone have allowed a significant amount of homeowners and businesses to enjoy the benefits of geothermal systems.  In fact, consumers rank their comfort and satisfaction with geothermal systems higher than any other type of system. What is the real environmental impact? According to data supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Geothermal Technologies, nearly 40% of all U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the sesult of using energy to heat, cool and provide hot water for buildings.  This is about the same amount of CO2 contributed by the transportation sector.  Versus a conventional fossil fuel system, a standard 3-ton residential geothermal system produces approximately one less pound of carbon dioxide (CO2) for every hour used.  Over twenty years, the carbon footprint (a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transporation) reduction would be equivalant to planting 120,000 acres of trees or converting over 58,000 cars to zero emission vehicles. Taking advantage of the "hot water assist" option, lowers enssions even further by allocating heat removed from the home during the cooling season to provide hot water for household consumption.  In addition to the environmental benefit, hot water costs can be reduced by a much as 30%. What is the difference between geothermal heating and cooling and geothermal energy? Geothermal heating and cooling is different than geothermal energy.  The word geothermal comes from the Greek words "geo" (meaning earth), and "thermos" (meaning heat).  Earth heat describes botj geothermal energy and geothermal heating, but each utilizes heat created by different source.  Geothermal energy is a natural energy source derived from heat found in the earth's core.  An example of this is the magma, or liquid rock that comes from earth's center through geological openings and flows from volcanos.  Hot springs and geysers are exampled of warmth created with this kind of energy. Geothermal heating and cooling does not use geothermal energy, but rather ground source energy. (For that reason, you may hear geothermal heat pumps called source heat pumps.)  Geothermal heat pump technology relies on the son to heat the ground at the earth's surface, rather than the earth's core to heat it from below.  Geothermal energy use is not widespread due to the complications of geology.  Because geothermal heat pumps use the sun's energy, which is much more accessible, their application is virtually everywhere.