NewsToUse

Senator Mark Udall recently visited Colorado's largest geothermal heat pump installation at the new IKEA store in Centennial  Watch video. 

In a recent survey, CoGEHPA members identified ‘work w/utilities to support and promote geo’ as a top priority for improving the success of their business.  As a result, CoGEHPA is embarking on an effort to become an active participant in Public Utilities Commission functions and make the voice of geo heard at the table, to establish relationships with key utility stakeholders and to gather insights into legislation that affects members and the industry.  The Board approved a six point plan that sets short and long term objectives for engaging the utility sector.  Members also ranked the lack of consumer awareness as a major hurdle to business growth.  CoGEHPA seeks to tackle this obstacle as resources become available.  We need your help to accelerate both of these efforts  - please join or donate to CoGEHPA today. 

Simple.  Go to the CoGEHPA online directory.  Here you’ll find more than 60 professionals who can design your residential retrofit or commercial project, drill your loop field, provide cost/benefit/payback analyses, install your system, offer case studies and help you with financing options.  These are some of the best pros in the state – including IGSHPA certified installers and designers.  Don’t take a chance with strangers – use a CoGEHPA member for your next project.  Please call CoGEHPA anytime if you have questions about locating geo professionals, services, case studies or general geo information – 970 846 0303. 

A November poll taken by readers of Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration NEWS shows they predict more growth from geothermal heat pumps than either air source heat pumps or central a/c systems.  Nearly 60% of the 267 votes favored geothermal heat pumps as having the greatest growth rate in the next five years. 

2012 could well prove to be the ‘Year of Geothermal’ in the picturesque mountain town of Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado.  Led by Mayor Ross Aragon, the community has several projects which will showcase Pagosa’s geothermal resources and the town’s commitment to be a model for green energy production. Mayor Aragon is confident that his town will see the first of three planned geothermally heated, domed greenhouses constructed this summer which will serve as an educational facility for K-12 and college students. Another project will monitor the town’s geothermal wells in order to gather real-time data, measuring the extent of the geothermal aquifer’s behavior as well as the extent of available resources.  Complimenting this effort, geophysics professors from the Colorado School of Mines will lead a team of graduate students in May to conduct deep seismic and geoelectrical data collection.  Yet another project will use shallow drilling to investigate the potential for power production. Read more. 

Claiming 25 – 40% faster execution speeds, version 7 of EnergyPlus, DOE’s energy modeling software, is a multi purpose tool that calculates the energy required to heat, cool, ventilate, and light a building. It can model a wide range of residential and commercial buildings and HVAC system types, including passive building designs and low-energy systems.  The software is free and runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux platforms.  More Details and Download Info 

Two parcels totaling more than 8,000 acres will be up for a geothermal lease sale by BLM officials on February 9 at its Lakewood office.  The parcels are located east of Gunnison, where some of the state’s hottest hydrothermal resources have been identified. This is the second BLM geothermal lease sale within the past 13 months, following the Mt. Princeton lease parcels in November of 2010.  Details of Lease Notice

Hampered by a late start and just an 18 day drilling window, Aspen’s effort to evaluate geothermal resources has been suspended.  With a test hole at just 1,000 ft, no water has been discovered yet.  The drilling came to a halt out of consideration for neighborhood noise concerns and the approaching ski season.  A feasibility study in 2008 suggested that 90 – 140 degree water might be present, with >100 degree water the threshold for district heating applications.  City officials have not yet determined if the project will resume in the spring.   At the Eagle County Airport near Gypsum, Flint Eagle LLC is in the permitting process for a 4,000 ft test well to explore geothermal water in the Rio Grande Rift.  The well will provide information on volume, temperature and chemistry which, if suitable, could provide heating and energy production options. 

In September President Al Wallace and Executive Director Ben Northcutt presented representatives from the new IKEA Centennial Store with a plaque that acknowledges the store's use of renewable geo energy (geoexchange).  The 415,000 sf store, located 15 miles south of downtown Denver along I-25, is the largest commercial geoexchange installation in the state. The plaque was recently placed in the entrance lobby and is already driving inquisitive customers to CoGEHPA’s website.  The plaque includes a QR code (quick response) that viewers can scan with their smart phones.  Once scanned the viewer is taken directly to the IKEA landing page on the CoGEHPA website.  The page includes a link that directs them to CoGEHPA Members for additional geo information.  If you would like to provide a CoGEHPA Geo Plaque for your clients and drive additional traffic to your business, please contact Ben Northcutt -  ben@goGeoNow.org or 970 846 0303.

If you’re looking for tools to help you design geoexchange systems, here are two worth a look – Ground Loop Design 2012, developed by GAIA Geothermal, is a comprehensive software suite for residential and commercial applications.  Various modules cover vertical, horizontal and surface water loop fields, fluid dynamics, system analysis, thermal conductivity and more.  Free trial versions are available on the web site.  GeoAnalyser is a web based software available from the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition (CGC).  It relies on well proven and tested sizing algorithms and is based on a scientific literature review and review of thousands of geothermal designs conducted through the CGC System Certification process. GeoAnalyser contains a current database of more than 400 heat pumps available in Canada and uses 20 years of hourly weather observations from more than 1300 weather stations across Canada.  A free trial version is available from the web site.