When I first heard about heat pumps I was instantly enthusiastic and wondered why everyone wasn't already using them. Heat pumps take energy from a low grade heat source such as the air, the ground or a water source and convert that low grade energy to higher grade heat energy. Here we are focusing on geothermal heat pumps which take the heat from the ground but the principles are the same for air and water heat pump systems.

The amazing thing is that the electrical energy you put in to the heat pump to operate is rewarded with up to four times as much energy returned to warm, or cool, your home, business or school. Using a heat pump can save you money on energy bills and they are reliable machines that go on working for many years.

A heat pump operates very much like a refrigerator. In a fridge heat is taken out of the food storage are and given off as heat to the air at the back of the fridge. A heat pump operates in a similar fashion taking heat from the heat source and releasing that heat into your home.

The surface temperature of the ground varies with the seasons but below the frost line the ground remains at a fairly constant temperature all year round and this heat is available for us to recover and use via a geothermal heat pump.

A geothermal heat pump, which is sometimes known as a ground source heat pump, uses an array of pipes buries in the ground to collect low grade heat from the ground and release it as higher grade heat in your home but the operation can also be reversed to supply cool air in your home and warm the ground and that same heat will be stored and available to use when the weather changes and you need heating.

Geothermal heat pumps would work well in combination with store summer heat for winter and the energy you put into the heat pump could come from diy renewable energy by getting energy from windpower generators or by building your own solar panel.