What is Geothermal Energy?

The sun has always provided heat for the earth. Its energy warms the earth directly, but also indirectly. Its heat evaporates water from the lakes and streams, which eventually falls back to earth and filters into the ground. A few metres of surface soil insulate the earth and ground water below. The warm earth and ground water below  the surface provide a free, renewable source of energy for as long as the sun continues to shine. The earth under an average residential lot can easily provide enough free energy to heat and cool the home built on it.

The free energy has only to be moved from the ground into your home. This is done either by pumping water from a  well (open loop) or by pumping a heat transfer fluid through a horizontal or vertical circuit of underground piping (closed loop). The fluid, called the heat transfer fluid, absorbs the heat in the ground water or soil and transfers it to the heat pump. The heat absorbed by the fluid from the solar-heated ground is extracted from it by the heat pump, and the now-chilled fluid is circulated through a heat exchanger over and over again to extract more heat from the earth.

If your home is located near a suitable pond or lake, you can use a Geo- Exchange System (GXS) to draw on this excellent source of free energy.

Burying a loop in the ground around your home is like owning your own oil well, but instead of pumping oil from an underground pool and burning it to create heat (and greenhouse gases), you tap into clean energy that will be there for as long as there is a sun.

Latest News

Fall 2010 Training Dates for the CGC Global Quality GeoExchange Program®

Montreal, September 2, 2010
Fall 2010 Training Dates for the CGC Global Quality GeoExchange Program®  Please visit www.geoexchange.ca for session dates,...Read more

COMMENT REQUESTED: NRCAN RELEASES PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY REGULATIONS

Montreal, July 2nd 2010
Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency has recently released a bulletin concerning Natural Resources Canada's proposed amendment to...Read more

CGC announces the winners of the 4th GeoExchange Excellence awards

Montreal, June 22, 2010
The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition congratulates the 2010 winners of the 4thGeoExchange Excellence awards. The prizes will be awarded at a series of...Read more

Release of the CGC Complaints Mechanism

Montreal, June 4th, 2010
The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition (CGC) today announced the publication of the CGC Complaints Mechanism. This formal process will be used to handle...Read more

Codes, Standards and Regulations in the Canadian Geothermal Heat Pump Industry

Montreal, June 1st, 2010
The CGC is pleased to announce the publication of a summary report of a national consultation conducted last year to assess the effectiveness of...Read more