ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL ENERGY MANAGERS
4th Quarter 1997
143 SOUTH CITRUS STREET* Orange, CA 92668-2834

Energy Evolution….Or a Revolution Clean, renewable, economical energy,compliments of your local water company.

It’s possible, and can be completely effective and profitable, thanks to a recent development now being installed for the first time. Ground source or "geothermal" energy offers a dramatic improvement in operating costs and efficiency when it is properly designed and installed. Presently, it is expensive to install and suffers from not being ""lug and play."" This means each installation is a custom design with all the attendant possibilities for poor reliability.

In spite of the problems, ground source energy or geothermal energy has been plugging along for quite a few years now. Equipment has been steadily improving and pricing for the equipment is increasingly competitive. Also, thanks to efforts of such organizations as the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association and others, expertise and methods have improved.

Reasons for the slow growth in geothermal use are high equipment costs, insufficient equipment selections and what is generally conceded to be the major reason, that high "first cost." Increasing competition is taking care of both the high equipment costs and lack of selections available. Equipment efficiency and quality are also improving. But that high "first cost" penalty for installing geothermal systems has remained the biggest obstacle to overcome.

That obstacle may have disappeared with the recent development of a Geothermal Utility Return Line (GURLsystem) and the help of your local water utility. Now, there is a distinct possibility that "first cost" for heating and cooling installations using ‘ground coupling’ may actually be less expensive than conventional systems to install. This represents a major technological breakthrough in replacing non-renewable resources with environmentally friendly renewable resources.

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