Wyandotte, MI homeowners get chance at geothermal energy

Wyandotte homeowners get chance at geothermal energy
1:26 AM, May. 9, 2011
BY ELISHA ANDERSON
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Some Downriver homeowners are lined up to become customers of a geothermal public utility, thought to be one of the first of its kind in the country.

Wyandotte will drill wells hundreds of feet into the ground this week to make alternative, environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems available to residents.

City officials say the benefits of geothermal energy go beyond conservation.

Customers can save about $500 to $1,000 a year because they will need less electricity in the summer and no natural gas for heat. And geothermal energy helps an electric utility, such as the one Wyandotte owns, reduce costs because of its high efficiency at supplying air-conditioning, Wyandotte Municipal Services General Manager Melanie McCoy said.

Officials in Dearborn Heights also are working on plans to make geothermal energy available to residents.

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http://www.freep.com/article/20110509/NEWS02/105090323/Wyandotte-homeowners-get-chance-geothermal-energy?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

What will it be this time? Termites? Moles? Subterranean bacteria?

yes :sarcasm:

but is still a little high to be universal. If I'm reading the article correctly:

$15,000 Ground source heat pump and hot-water heater
$10,000 Well and outdoor infrastructure
--------
$25,000 Gross Cost

-$7,500 Tax Credit
-$ 900 Wyandotte rebate
-------

$16,600 Net Cost

$500-1,000 Avg Savings per Year

17-33 Years to Pay Back (plus interest on loans)

A business would rarely make an investment which took such a long time to recoup costs. It's promising, but may be better suited for new construction at this point.

You might see fuel costs double or triple in a relatively short period of time.

Geothermal is utilizing the heat available in some locations, as in Yellowstone National Park. All ground source heat pumps do is use the ground as a heat sink, that's the difference.

You can 'overload' the wells so the A/C can not work, by pumping so much heat into them, the returning water is almost the same temperature as the heated water going down.
It happen where I uses to work. The heat pump system worked fine for almost 15 years. But the winters apparently did not suck enough heat back out. They even had us leaving the windows open one winter to to remove more of the heat from the wells. Didn't work. It was the heat pumped into the ground in the Summer that was the problem.
They ended us putting a big, noisy duel fan driven radiator outside the back door so the A/C would work. And this was in North Dakota where it can get to -30° and stay for a while. When I retired last year the (lack of) temperature differential problem showed so signs of improving.

Just something to keep in mind with ground source heap pumps and this Climate Change.

Plymouth saves a bundle of money using this for their ice arena.

Sharing with neighbors. This I'd like to see.