Cohousing-L Mailing List: Geothermal Success

[DCS (cdm]

Hi. Not sure if anybody else from Eno Commons has responded to this
thread. All 22 of our homes have geothermal units, with many of them
running for over 15 months now. From my personal experience, I am
happier with this HVAC system than anything else we've ever had in any
house anywhere.

Not least of all, I'm thrilled with how inexpensive it is to run this
system versus electric heat pump or gas heat. My power bills for the
entire household, including running the dryer and all our other electric
appliances and running the geothermal, averages about $70 a month, year
round. Others in the neighborhood actually are $5 to $10 lower per
month. (Though some are higher, those who like a hot house in the
winter.)

Our systems were well designed and evidently installed quite well. We
have Water Furnace units and most of us have vertical wells. I don't
know much more technical information than that.

But I'm very pleased and feel the extra $1800 during construction was
well worth the level of comfort and amount spent monthly on electricity.

Incidentally, our CH will not have geothermal as the extra cost to
install that system would have been about 30 times more than the extra
cost to our homes. It was unbelievable, but it was estimated to be about
$40,000 - $60,000 extra.

Christine Della Maggiora
Eno Commons Cohousing
Durham NC