Google's New Startup Heats Your Home With Energy From Your Lawn (cnn.com)

WindBourne shares an article about Google's plans for "an extremely cheap form of HVAC." CNN reports: A new startup called Dandelion, born from the secretive and futuristic lab "X" of Google's parent company Alphabet, says it will offer affordable geothermal heating and cooling systems to homeowners. Existing systems are typically expensive with big upfront installation fees, discouraging homeowners from adopting the technology... Installing the pipes -- called "ground loops" -- under someone's lawn is a traditionally invasive, messy process. It involves using wide drills that dig wells more than 1,000 feet underground. Dandelion's drill is fast and lean, allowing for only one or two deep holes a few inches wide. The system will cost between $20,000 and $25,000, compared to conventional systems priced as high as $60,000.

Geothermal systems are better for the environment because they significantly cut down on carbon dioxide emissions... Buildings are responsible for 39% of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S., according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Most of these emissions come from the combustion of fossil fuels to provide the building with heating, cooling and lighting, and to power appliances and electrical equipment.
Google has been studying the potential of geothermal energy since 2011. Dandelion will eventually partner with local companies to handle installations -- and is already accepting sign-ups from customers in New York.

Comments

Insulation is a better option

[geoff_syndicate]

What's the point of heating if it goes straight out a poorly insulated wall or roof? Follow the passive house standard and you won't even need extra heating.

Re: No

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed, unless its in a rural area where energy costs are high. Even if this system cut my energy bills in half (Which it probably wouldnt) it would take over 15 years to pay off at $20,000. But, thats because i heat on cheap natural gas and i cool on cheap city grid electricity. But in a rural area where energy is much more expensive, this kind of thing could be a boon for buyers when comparing looking at a big propane tank vs an empty yard AND a lower energy bill.

Re: Energy From Your Lawn!

[ClickOnThis]

There'll be a free option if you let Google use your lawn to display ads. It'll be called ... [sunglasses] ... Google Grass.

Re: No

[Ol Olsoc]

1. Figure out how much one spends on energy now. 2. Figure out how much one would spend after the system is installed. 3. Divide savings into the cost of the system to determine how many years it will take to recover the investment.

Those are the basic numbers. But I've found that there is a humongous wild card in there.

We exchanged oil heat for a super-efficient gas furnace (extracts so much of the energy that the chimney is made of PVC)

Then oil prices went nuts. Ended up recovering the gas furnace expenses in a couple years.

This was a real eye-opener for me, because my calculations were simply blown out of the water. But I hadn't accounted for the volatility of the fuel source.

So depending on how you heat/cool, and it's pretty much a given that oil prices aren't going anywhere but up beyond inflation over the long term, the recovery period is difficult to calculate. As well, what is the "payback" time on a standard efficiency oil furnace or a standard compressor AC unit.

I think it is a better approach to look towards efficiency, and likewise look into devices/methods that require as little replacement as possible, because that is another variable that adds cost that messes badly with the calculations.

Then there is incidental expenses. As another example, we dug up the old buried oil tank, and it was perilously close to leaking. If it had leaked into the surrounding soil and water table, the mitigation costs to me would have been around the entire value of the house. There's a reason new Oil tanks have to be double walled and above ground in my area. I could have opted to leave the tank in the ground to save money. Yikes! In a rare moment of intelligence I decided to pull it out, and thank goodness I did.

Re: No

[guruevi]

In most of NY, except NYC 25k is often more than 25% the equity of the property. It's simply not an investment I would make given energy prices being so low and property taxes making out most of the cost, 25k even without maintenance is about 20-30 years of heating costs and if it raises the value of your house by that much, any savings will quickly be overshadowed by the property taxes of the increased value of the property which could be as much as $2000/year for $25k