Digging deep for home heating

Alternative energy As the cost of fossil fuel climbs, interest is growing in geothermal systems, which take heat stored beneath the Earth's surface and moves it above to furnace units and distribution systems inside buildings

Tapping the Earth's energy is a hot topic and getting hotter as the cost of fossil fuels rises.

"It's the best thing we ever did," says Pat Dobben of Drayton, Ont., as she describes the geothermal system she and her husband, Luke, installed in their 120-year-old farmhouse three years ago.

At that time, she says, only a quarter of the 1,900-square-foot house was insulated.

"The rest was double brick. That was how they did insulation years ago. With the oil furnace, our bills were atrocious - over $4,000 a year - and the house was still cold."

They decided to bite the bullet and invest $20,000 in a water-based geothermal system.

"Now, I have a warm house in winter and a cool house in the summertime," says Dobben, "and we don't have much of a hydro bill."

According to NextEnergy Geothermal, the company that installed the system, "the Dobbens are saving approximately 65 per cent annually on their heating bill and, with the additional savings on air conditioning and hot- water bills, can expect a full return on their investment in eight years - at current oil prices. The Dobbens were also eligible for a federal grant for installing a geothermal system."

A geothermal system takes heat stored beneath the Earth's surface and moves it from underground pipes to a furnace unit and distribution system inside a building, where it is dispers edevenly.

To cool, the system works in reverse, returning heat to the soil.

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