Dr. Kirkham at Back to Health Wellness in LaPorte knew he needed to upgrade his old inefficient HVAC system. After consulting a local contractor to get a quote, they asked if had ever considered a geothermal system. They had not, but after a little research and an evaluation of his building he decided this was the system for him.
Geothermal heating and cooling uses the relatively constant temperature of the earth to heat and cool homes and businesses with 40% to 70% less energy than conventional systems. While conventional furnaces and boilers burn a fuel to generate heat, geothermal heat pumps use electricity to simply move heat from the earth into buildings, allowing much higher efficiencies. The most efficient fuel-burning heater can reach efficiencies around 95%, but a geothermal heat pump can move up to 4 units of heat for every unit of electricity needed to power the system, resulting in a practical equivalence of over 400% efficiency.
With a total cost of $57,000, the system was more expensive, but the savings and low maintenance made the geothermal system worth the extra cost. In total three inefficient 30 year old furnaces and air conditioners (one did not even work) were replaced with geothermal heating cooling system. In addition to this, inefficient water heaters were replaced with tankless water heaters. It is estimated that Back to Health Wellness has saved almost $9,000 and the geothermal system will pay for itself in around 6 years.
Back to Health Wellness Center received an Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), funded through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. EECBG is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy and is administered by the Indiana Office of Energy Development.
