Geothermal Cover Story in MN “Contractor Magazine”

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Interest in geothermal technologies is growing as more trade and general consumer magazines are making "geothermal" the topic of focus. The August, 2015 issue of “Contractor”,  the official publication of the Minnesota Association of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors saw that and ran with it.

I loved the art work for the cover and the article, and especially the fact that they are encouraging their readers to get in and get trained.  The article repeats, “Geothermal HVAC is the way the industry is going, and right now is the perfect time to get in. Here are some pointers that will help you to get involved and claim your piece of a phenomenal growth market.”

The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) and the Geothermal Exchange Organization (GEO) are your resources for all of these efforts.

Don’t forget to get your name and support onto the National Geothermal Day website, www.geothermalday.com. These are the groups to which you and others can and should go to in order to get information, training, and to list your company as a geothermal heating and cooling entity.

Pittsburgh Geothermal Field Trip: Frick Park Environmental Center

"Frick Park Environmental Center" Geothermal Tour
(Marijke Hecht and Arlene Anderson are Pictured at the Center)
Photo: Kirsi Jansa

"GEOTHERMAL" IS ONE WORD THAT SHOULD DENOTE A SINGULAR VISION in the collective minds of consumers; “Energy from the Earth”.

“Refreshing” is another word that describes how the Geothermal Direct Use Technology & Marketplace Forum was conducted in Pittsburgh on August 17^th.

There is a good movement afoot at the DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and it involves “connecting” all of the ways that we harvest energy from the earth in a practical a sensible way.  There are certain situations where reservoirs of hot water are economically accessible for direct use in buildings, and there are even more opportunities (speaking geographically) to harvest low temperature geothermal resources, for “ground source heat pump” (GSHP) technologies.

The workshop involved an impressive cross section of expertise, featuring speakers from as far away as Iceland that shared their applied expertise on geothermal.

The day ended with a brisk forum in which attendees contributed real advice that will help government to provide real benefits to the geothermal industry. There will be a full report on these efforts on the DOE’s website soon.

Participants that were fortunate enough to stay over were treated to an impressive tour of Pittsburgh’s “Frick Park Environmental Center” on Tuesday, August 18^th. Marijke Hecht, the Director of Education for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy conducted the tour.  Her passion for children, STEM education, renewable energy and sustainable technologies was evident. The tour ended at the geothermal loop-field termination inside the building.  Marijke said that since geothermal heating and cooling is all but “invisible”, she is going to leave a portion of this piping visible to visitors with a display explaining the geothermal heating and cooling process.

Arlene Anderson, Technology Manager at the GTO will attend the American Ground Water Trust (AGWT) New York Geothermal Workshop on September 9th, 2015. Arlene will also represent the GTO at the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association’s (IGSHPA) Technical Conference and Expo in Kansas City, October 5-8, 2015.

Ever since DOE employees attended a workshop/field trip to the Kentlands Community Center in Gaithersburg, MD where geothermal energy heats and cools the community center from a pair of standing column wells (SCW). They (the GTO) appear to be in “hot pursuit” of ways to facilitate more widespread implementation of deep direct use and geothermal heating and cooling. The GTO Systems Analysis and Low-Temperature Team that Arlene belongs to is benchmarking geothermal technologies that use low-temperature geothermal in the Eastern U.S. and other regions. Arlene said that the team is interested in understanding the potential for deep direct use and GSHP in the U.S.

The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) and the Geothermal Exchange Organization (GEO) are your resources for helping in these efforts.

Don’t forget to get your name and support on the National Geothermal Day website. These are the groups to which you and others can and should go to get information, training and list your company as a geothermal heating and cooling entity.

President Obama Accelerates Transition Toward Geothermal

August 24, 2015-White House-President Obama is committed to taking responsible steps to address climate change, promote clean energy, and ensure a cleaner, more stable environment for future generations. That is why today he is announcing a robust set of executive actions and private sector commitments to accelerate the transition to cleaner sources of energy and cut energy waste. These actions will continue to expand opportunities to install energy saving technologies in households today, particularly those that need it most, while driving the development of low-cost clean energy technologies for tomorrow.

Last year, the United States brought online as much solar energy every three weeks as it did in all of 2008, and the solar industry added jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy.  Since the beginning of 2010, the average cost of a solar electric system has dropped by 50 percent. In fact, distributed solar prices fell 10 to 20 percent in 2014 alone and currently 44 states have pricing structures that encourage increased penetration of distributed generation.

Americans are also more empowered to capture opportunities to improve efficiency and cut energy waste into the amount of energy they are consuming. In fact, up to one third of households can track their energy use and learn ways to make choices to how to save on their energy bills. Since President Obama took office, the U.S. Department of Energy has already put in place appliance efficiency standards that will save American consumers nearly $480 billion on their utility bills through 2030, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program continues to help save consumers more than $34 billion per year going forward.

The executive actions and private sector commitments President Obama is announcing today will continue to promote the use and development of smart, simple, low-cost technologies to help households save on their energy bills and help America transition to a cleaner energy sources.

Getting Geothermal Into School Curriculum

Specifically mentioned in the press release; Bosch is committing to dedicating part of its sales force to focus specifically on outreach to school districts in low income communities, as well as in extreme climate areas, where energy resiliency is paramount. These activities could include:

• Working to educate stakeholders and decision makers in low-income communities about the opportunities and benefits of high-efficiency buildings, particularly schools.
• Sharing critical information with stakeholders on how projects can be implemented in their regions, including case studies from existing Bosch school improvement projects.
• Providing best practices on how other schools integrate energy efficiency projects into student curriculum and reinforce teaching and learning about energy conservation in the classroom. 

Geothermal Direct Use Technology & Marketplace Forum to Focus on Low Temp

– Monday August 17, 2015, Pittsburgh, PA

The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office (DOE GTO) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) have teamed up to bring a geothermal workshop/forum in which participants in the industry will be asked to provide personal experience, individual advice and information regarding low temperature (geothermal heat pumps) and direct use geothermal applications in the Eastern US.

The agenda includes presentations of current geothermal projects implementation from scholars and experts from the Eastern US and Iceland.

Workshop Agenda

"This workshop is a forum to exchange information on low temperature (GSHP) geothermal applications. To that end, participants will be asked to provide recommendations and information based on personal experience, individual advice, information, or facts regarding this topic. The objective of the workshop is not to obtain any group position or consensus; rather, the DOE is seeking as many recommendations as possible from all individuals at this meeting."

Some attendees will be touring the newly completed Frick Park Environmental Center GSHP installation on Tuesday morning.

Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh/Southpointe 1000 Corporate Dr, Canonsburg, PA 15317

Full Agenda (PDF)