Home Improvement

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Investing in a home is investing in the future. A home is a tangible asset that grows between 5%-7% per year. Owning a home is not easy and requires a large cash outlay in addition to a loan. The upfront cost to qualify for that loan can be as low as 2% to as high as 20%. It is the single most expensive purchase for most people.

Owning that home becomes a sense of pride. It is your private section of the world, a section you can customize as you see fit. How and what you remodel are your own choices to make. The options of which can be something as simple as changing the color of a dingy room to something more vibrant or adding an accent wall covered in a wild design. Ambitious homeowners have resculpted barren yards into outdoor oases with a pool, adjoining jacuzzi, waterfalls, a fully stocked outdoor kitchen, accent lighting, and surround sound systems for an outdoor venue rivaling that of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The glitz and glamour of these projects, both large and small, are seductive. The draw upon our desire to have the best and brightest, to live the doctrine he who dies with the most toys wins.

Other home improvement projects are born of necessity and must be done regardless of our ability to afford lest we lose our investment. Carpets become worn; shingles need replacing; pools retiled and often resurfaced; paint fades or peels, and a dearth of subsystems keeping a house running are not eternal.

Of the plethora of options both necessary and cosmetic, the one home improvement that I would enjoy having is nearly invisible but provides several tangible benefits: a geothermal heat pump.

This is not tapping into the heat of a thermal vent as has been done in Iceland to generate electricity. A geothermal heat pump uses the earth insulation qualities as a heat exchanger. Below 20', the earth is consistently between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit making it the perfect option as a heat exchanger. During warm periods, a medium is pipped deep underground where it is cooled to this constant temperature. It is then brought back to the surface and used to cool homes. During colder months, the medium is likewise pumped into the ground to warm the home up to this temperature. There more complex systems available including actually capturing the warm air of summer for later use in the winter and the reverse in the winter. There are also variations of the medium used in the exchange from standard refrigerants to just air; if a heat exchanger is used as part of a closed loop system, or if the medium is used directly. Even the direction of the piping system (verticle or horizontal) varies depending on the available land.   

The setup costs for this system can be prohibitively high, but those who have managed see overall cost savings in 3-10 years depending on their location and the medium used for the heat exchange.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, geothermal heat pumps are 72% more efficient than AC in cooling homes with corresponding savings to electricity of 25-30%. For winter months they are 44% more efficient than heating units. The EPA lists this as energy efficient, clean and saves on natural gas an oil.

In this area of concerns over climate change, energy conservation, rising oil costs and the environmental impact of fossil fuels in general, a geothermal heat pump is a very desirable home improvement.