Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house
By ISABELLA O’MALLEY
Associated Press
More than one third of all U.S. energy consumption, and thus a significant source of climate change, is from heating and cooling homes and buildings. Air source heat pumps are a trending topic as a solution, but experts say geothermal pumps are a more efficient option. For the geothermal pumps, loops of flexible piping are installed several hundred feet deep in yards and water in the loops brings up heat from the earth and absorbs heat from inside homes. Industry experts see the technology becoming increasingly popular in coming years, but installation costs are still high, even though homeowners save money long term.