GeoExchange

GeoExchange is a climate control system utilising renewable energy resources accumulated in the soil, underground aquifers or surface water.

It is regarded as the most energy efficient climate control system available. GeoExchange is efficient not because it uses any special type of equipment but because it takes advantage of basic principles of thermodynamics.

Geoexchange is based on two simple observations: it is easier to cool something down with something that is already cold and it is easier to warm something up with something that is already warm.

Now consider a typical air-source, reverse cycle air conditioning system. In cooling mode it is cooled by a hot ambient air, and in heating mode uses cold ambient air as a heat source.

This is exactly the opposite to what the commonsense would tell you. From the thermodynamics point of view it is possible, but you have to put extra energy and pay for it.

This is why you pay more for your heating and cooling using standard air-source equipment than when you use the GeoExchange principle.

How GeoExchange works

In cooling mode, GeoExchange extracts heat from a conditioned space and rejects it to the soil.

In summer, the soil is much colder than the ambient air, especially on hot summer days when the ambient air is hot and the cooling demand is at its peak.

In heating mode, GeoExchange extracts heat from the soil and transfers it to the conditioned space. In winter the soil is warmer than the ambient air, especially on those chilly winter mornings when the heating demand is at its peak.

Using cooler source for cooling and warmer source for heating can more than double the system efficiency and hence cut by half your electricity consumption.

It is important to point out, that the heat from the soil comes from the Sun and the planetary interior free of charge. It is a renewable energy produced by Nature without anyone burning any fossil fuels.

There are three different ways of tapping to the Earth's renewable energy resources using GeoExchange.

Ground Heat Exchanger (GHE)

In the cooling mode circulating water picks up heat from the conditioned space, through a water source heat pump, and rejects it through a system of polyethylene pipes buried in the soil, either vertically or horizontally. In the heating mode the heat flow is reversed.

Underground aquifer

Water from an underground aquifer is pumped through the water source airconditioner where it either picks up heat or serves as a heat source. Next, the water is pumped back to the aquifer.

Surface water

Surface water from a lake or a river can be used in a similar way as an underground aquifer.