GeoBlog | GeoChoices | Ona

Bailout Boosts Geothermal

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:38:31 -0500

I refuse to rename this bill like the politicians did, to me, it will always be the Bailout Bill. The Bill which gives welfare to all those people that received mere millions as bonuses each year while they were thriving, are now being bailed out by the middle class. In my opinion, one good thing about this Bill was Division B.

Division B, among many other things, gives a $2,000 tax credit to single family homeowners who installed a GeoThermal system since January 1, 2008 (even more for multi-family units). This was an unexpected bonus for us because we had only expected the $300. Since it is so rare to receive an unexpected bonus I wanted to be sure that I wrote about it and say hooray for the Federal Government in taking the first step to make GeoThermal a mainstream technology!

Oh Driller Where 'Art Thou????

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:58:55 -0400

Since July 21st, 2008 we (meaning my geo contractor Joe and myself) were waiting for the driller to come. As it turns out, Joe had received literature from WaterFurnace letting him know that there was a geo specialist driller in the "area" that they recommended. They also offered a guaranteed price per project. Apparently there may be some drillers out there who have taken advantage of the situation and after offering an estimate would them come to the site and change that estimate. I guess that is beside the point. We were told they would try to be there almost every week in August, but finally, on August 29th we received an email stating that they were going to come and "drill my well on Friday September 5th even if they had to stay there until 7pm!"

So, Friday, September 5th came around and they did show up at 8am, but without the drill or water. So, they spent a portion of the morning taking care of getting the drill rig to my home and getting enough water to drill. There were a lot of people around since the drill rig was new. Some of them were excavating at the foundation of my home where the loop was going to enter, then they drilled holes through my foundation at one foot below grade. When my husband asked them about this they said that it would slope down to 5 feet below grade. This did not sit well with either of us, but thought we'd wait until our geo contractor arrived. Well, they were there until after 7pm, but all they did was drill the well and place two holes in my foundation. They said they'd be back on Monday to finish with the loop and grouting. They capped the well and were off.

Nobody came by on Monday.

My geo contractor wasn't even informed until 10am that the drillers were about 100 miles away in their home town. Then, I was told they would try to get there Tuesday, but my geo contractor told me that he would call me at work to let me know when then are coming so that I didn't have to take another day off.

They didn't come on Tuesday.

Finally, on Wednesday morning I called their corporate headquarters and asked for the drillers cell phone number. I called him and he said he would be by in the afternoon. He called me just before he was coming over (around 3pm) and I left work and met him at the house. They changed the location of the holes in my foundation to 5 feet below grade (which is where they should have been in the first place. They also prepped for grouting.

They didn't come on Thursday.

Finally, on Friday they did come and grout. They came in the morning and didn't finish until about 4pm. It was a much longer job than they expected.

I understand that this blog is one big complaint about the driller. But I should clarify, I was very impressed that they corrected their error without argument on the placement of the foundation holes. Also, they were good guys. There was nothing malicious in them not showing up. They also appeared to always want to do the right thing. The problem was that they did not have as much geo experience as the manufacturer made them out to have.

This experience did make me appreciate my geo contractor a lot more. He is always very attentive and responsive. The drillers were just as responsive as most of the contractors that I get to work on my home... they call you back in a week or two. Again, here I go bashing contractors, but I can't help the fact that communication is NOT a strong point in the contractors that I have tried to get to work on my home.

Anyway, I hope that all of your drilling experiences and much better than mine.

State Unsupported

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:15:16 -0400

fter a brief standstill in our GeoThermal project, it looks as if the driller will finally arrive on Friday. We have been waiting for this since we signed the contract on July 3rd! This made me reminisce about our personal road to GeoThermal and the frustration I feel towards our State in not creating any incentives.

The State Authority which handles most of the energy efficiency benefits for New York is called the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). I am constantly hearing about New York State encouraging its citizens to “get energysmart” or make energy efficiency improvements on their home.

Well, my husband and I are two New York State residents investing heavily into an energy efficiency and sustainable energy project in our home. I, of course, assumed that New York State might offer some help. I read my way through quite a bit of the NYSERDA website. I was taken aback by the following statement on their website:

From NYSERDA.org website 6/29/2008

OK, so it looked like I had to check into this “residential loan fund.” After looking into that I found that I could get a 4 point discount on a loan (i.e. if I took out a loan at 7%, I would really only pay 3% on that loan). But alas, another glitch, I must take out a loan from a NYSERDA “approved” lender.

OK, so it looked like I had to check out who was a NYSERDA “approved” lender. I queried the website and actually found a list! Unfortunately neither of our banks were on the list. That’s OK, I would go with one of their approved lenders. So, I called a few of them, the ones that called me back informed me that if I already had a line of credit on my home, they would not offer me a loan. Unfortunately, my husband and I already had a line of credit open on our home for other home improvement projects. So, I was out of luck on this route.

I then thought, why not go straight to the source. There may be something out there. Also, maybe they do not want residential applications of geothermal in New York State since their website appears to focus on commercial and government applications. I sent the following email on 6/11/2008:

Hello,

I am interested to know why NYSERDA does not offer any incentives for a

ground source heat pump to New York residents? I note that substantial

incentives are offered to industry. Is this because NYSERDA does not feel

the geoexchange is a good thing for residential applications? If so, I am

interested to know what the drawbacks are.

Thank You,

Ona

I received the following reply on 6/17/2008:

Ona,

If you look closely at our residential programs you will note that we do

not offer specific incentives for any HVAC system, geothermal or otherwise.

The programs address the overall building efficiency (including HVAC), and

GHP systems can be part of that mix. My experience is on the commercial

side, but a good contact in our residential group is xxx xxxxx (ext. xxxx).

From a technology prospective, it is appropriate for residential use. Most

folks who install systems tell me the payback is somewhere between 6 and 15

years, depending on a number of factors.

The only thing I would point out is that GHP systems provide efficient

heating and cooling. When you install a system you are paying for a

heating and cooling system. As with any energy efficiency measure, the

more you use it, the faster it pays for itself. If you install a CFL light

bulb in a closet where it is used an hour a year, you could not expect it

to pay back any time soon. Similarly, if you only require heating, the

payback will be longer than if you are replacing/supplanting both heating

and cooling systems. The more you use it the faster the payback.

I’ve crossed out and left out the names purposefully for obvious reasons.

So, basically, what NYSERDA was telling me is that a system will pay for itself so they do not offer incentives. Maybe I’m a little sensitive, but I felt that this was a bit condescending.

I then decided to research what kind of incentives they offer commercial and government institutions. What I found was that literally millions of dollars have been given to commercial and government entities. It seems as if NYSERDA falls in with the “who cares about the average person, let’s only help larger organizations” attitude. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely applaud our State Authority helping schools and other organizations utilize GeoThermal, at the same time, I do not feel that individuals should be thrown to the side. A limited list of help that I found NYSERDA has offered over the years is below:

Albany Molecular Research - $400,000 - $800,000 depending on which source you use

Tannery Pond Community Center - $93,852

Bard College - $234,655

Sullivan Community College - $250,000

Saratoga Race Course - $57,203

Brockport High School - $250,000

Newfane Elementary School - $250,000

In conclusion, I would have loved to have said that I live in a progressive State that helps its residents become more energy efficient and make the right choices. Although I cannot say that, it did not deter either my husband or me. Installing a GeoThermal system in our home has required TRUE financial sacrifice. Not the financial “sacrifice” that you hear about these larger companies who are installing systems but being financially and technically subsidized by the State. We are feeling every penny as we write each check to our contractor. We know that it will take us a significant amount of time to pay this back. So, yes, I am stepping up on a high horse and tooting my own horn. If I had received financial support from my State I would have been tooting their horn, but alas, no such luck!

People talking to themselves on street corners

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:48:32 -0400

I know that this is an unusual heading for a GeoBlog. I was speaking with one of my managers the other day (let's just say his name rhymes with Snod Rugbinski - this is NOT his actual name!) and he said that blogging is nothing new, it's just that it used to be that people would talk to themselves on street corners, now they are talking to themselves on computers. He stated that there may be one good blog on the internet... the rest of them are these people just talking to themselves. He was a lot more animated and well spoken - he actually had me laughing quite hard. Even though I have a blog, I'm not offended, everyone's entitled to their own opinion right? So here I am standing on my own internet street corner, blurting out what is on my mind. Hopefully it's more coherent than what I've heard on street corners in the city! Based on Snod's comments, I thought I would explain why I started GeoChoices.com.

First of all, I own an old house in the northeast. This means that I spend a lot of money to heat my home. For the past 6 years my husband and I have been wondering how we could cut this expense. GeoThermal came up and I found that I had to do a lot of research. I was craving to learn from other peoples experiences rather than just educational stuff. I understand that the educational stuff is needed, but once you get past that, you want to hear about it from the home owners. So, this is my way of giving others what I wanted when I was trying to make my decision. Our project is not even complete, so I am adding to the website a couple of times a week to keep people informed.

Secondly, I am an environmentalist. I am not one of the outspoken ones, but I do feel a need to reduce air emissions and reduce my dependence on oil. Burning oil to heat my home did not jive well with this feeling. So, we decided to put our money where our environment was. After taking that plunge, we wanted to share that experience so others can learn from our experiences and maybe take a few plunges themselves.

Third, I am an engineer and this is about as creative as I get. It is actually fun for my to learn how to build a website and organize it in a way that at least I think makes sense. So, this is a creative outlet for me. While others in this world are truly creative by composing great works of art, this is about all I can muster so I am enjoying what I can.

So, this blog entry is dedicated to the Snod's of this world, even as I mumble it on the street corner :o)

Sub Metering

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:54:12 -0400

I am seriously interested in sub-metering my Geo system. I've researched a bit online and found some basic cumulative sub-meters for about $120 each. I keep going back and forth wondering whether this is wasteful or not???? I feel that the information will be incredibly valuable. I would record my usage on this site so people could see the true cost of GeoThermal (at least for my home). Since the Geo system costs so much, what is an extra couple of hundred dollars? My plan is to order 3, one for the Geo system proper, one for the coil backup heater and one for the hot water heaters.

Getting started with GeoChoices

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:08:42 -0400

So, how do you start a blog???? I guess this is it. I created this website because I had done a lot of research regarding our GeoThermal system here at home and wanted to make it available to others who might be interested. Then it expanded as I thought I should include our window project, and boy, wouldn't it be nice if I added something about solar panels since it is our dream to one day have those too. So, all together, I felt that these had a common theme, meaning that they all had to do with decisions concerning our planet. So, here we are with GeoChoices.com!