With oil prices remaining high, more home owners and businesses -- along with educational institutions -- are seeking alternative ways to heat and cool their places, as well as to produce hot water to wash dishes and shower. Southern New Hampshire University is exploring whether it can use some of the Earth's heat to keep students at its Manchester campus warm in the coming years.

Southern New Hampshire University is exploring whether it can use some of the Earth's heat to keep students at its Manchester campus warm in the coming years.

"What we're looking at potentially is geothermal could potentially heat the campus in whole or part," said Roy Morrison, the university's director of the Office for Sustainability.

Morrison said he was encouraged by results from test wells drilled on university property near the Merrimack River last spring.

A final decision should be made in fall 2009 on whether to invest millions of dollars into alternative energy sources, including using geothermal heat pumps, he said.

With oil prices remaining high, more home owners and businesses -- along with educational institutions -- are seeking alternative ways to heat and cool their places, as well as to produce hot water to wash dishes and shower.

Dover resident Jennifer Cary had her oil heating system replaced with a geothermal one this year.

"No oil bills ever again," she said.

Cary said she took out a home equity loan because "our furnace was ready to go." Rather than "spending a million dollars on oil," she said, she put in a geothermal system.

"I remember last year, 'You have kids to feed and stuff. I have this huge oil bill to get paid. What am I going to rob to afford it?' " Cary said.

Business is booming for Jack Leary and KW Management, which designs and installs geothermal heat pumps, solar systems and wind turbines.

"We tripled the business last year, and we'll probably double the business this year," said Leary, the Nashua firm's vice president and chief financial officer. "That's just in geo work.

"The age of renewable energy seems to have perked everyone's interest," he said.

Leary said he's seeing a boom in demand for geothermal systems for new homes. Geothermal systems run about 30 percent more than a traditional system, he said, but operating costs are 70 percent less.

A person moving into a new home would need only four to seven years to recoup the extra upfront costs, he said.

A person swapping out his heating system for a geothermal one might pay between $24,000 and $35,000 depending on the house size, pushing the payback time frame to between six and nine years.

Tax credits and rebates

Leary said people could get up to a $3,000 federal tax credit for new or retrofitted systems. Commercial businesses could recoup 30 percent of their costs in a tax credit, he said.

Public Service of New Hampshire offers rebates of up to $7,500 for new homes built with geothermal, according to Mike McQueeney, the utility's program administrator for the energy-efficiency programs.

Some existing homes using PSNH also could be eligible for up to $3,500, he said. The utility also offers rebate programs that could aid businesses using the technology.

The New Hampshire Electric Co-op offers up to $4,000 for residential rebates, according to Marketing PR Manager Amanda Conaway,

"This year, we've completed four residential and I know there's another 10 in the process," Conaway said.

People should check with their local electric carrier and their tax adviser regarding rebates and tax credits.

The state Department of Environmental Services Web site noted that initial costs for geothermal systems are higher than conventional systems, but "over time they generally provide a savings in cost to homeowners and businesses, because they consume less energy to operate and are not directly tied to fuel prices."

How it works

Geothermal systems, which tap heat stored in the ground, circulate a fluid through a well or trench in the ground, picking up the heat of the shallow Earth, according to the state.

"The fluid then transfers the heat into a structure where it is distributed by an air-blower or through hot water piping," the DES Web site says.

Melissa Aho, office manager, at Ultra Geothermal in Barrington, said home owners need forced hot air or radiant heating to hook into a geothermal heat pump.

She said her company has seen around a 200 percent jump in business this year.

"I think not only are people trying to save money with oil prices," Aho said. "They're trying to help with our environment, too."

Ultra Geothermal's business is split evenly between new and existing homes.

Aho said there's a lead time of six to eight weeks.

Leary said he is booking orders four to six weeks out and expects to install nearly 50 geothermal systems this year in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

His reference list includes Phillips Exeter Academy, as well as residences in Franconia, Alton Bay, Madison and Dublin.

"They're spread all over the state," he said.

via UnionLeader.com