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Efforts to develop centralized community geothermal heat pumps expand

By District Energy posted 05-21-2022 09:13

  

S&P Global Market Intelligence

Summary

The District of Columbia is soliciting design proposals for a community heat pump system, the latest pilot project to attempt to scale a decades-old geothermal heating and cooling technology to the neighborhood level.

The district's Public Service Commission asked developers May 17 to apply to construct a large community heat pump system, capable of serving multiple buildings.

In doing so, Washington, D.C., joined a spate of other regional efforts to try to expand the use of a technology that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sees as the most energy-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to heat and cool a building.

Despite the benefits of geothermal energy, electricity and natural gas remain the largest household energy sources in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Roughly 14% of all U.S. homes in 2020 used heat pumps as their primary means of heating their homes, according to the agency.

Geothermal heat pumps, also known as ground-source heat pumps, have been in use since the 1940s. They draw thermal energy from the ground by pumping a refrigerant through a circuit of underground tubing leading into and out of a building. In the summer, the system reverses by drawing warm air out of the building and sinking it back into the earth. The process takes advantage of the relatively constant temperature a few feet below ground, which lies between 45 degrees F and 75 degrees F depending on latitude.

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