My spouse and I are seriously environmentally conscientious, however when my great friend and I built our house in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, it was truly pressing to us to focus on green alternatives, however my friend and I wanted a designated area for a vegetable garden and fruit garden that my great friend and I could irrigate by way of rainwater.
My friend and I set up a compost area and invested into solar panels. With the amount of sunshine in Tuscaloosa, we’re able to generate more energy than my great friend and I could possibly need. My friend and I still wanted to be responsible with handling heating and cooling, the local weather brings especially tepid and humid summers and rather short however freezing winters, however after considerable research, my great friend and I chose a geothermal heat pump. While the initial investment is significantly higher, geothermal heating and cooling is rated as the most environmentally friendly option by the Environmental Protection Agency. The majority of the cost is due to an underground loop system that requires a great deal of excavation, then once the underground loop is in locale, it is warrantied for fifty years and should last twice that long, however because the heat pump is installed inside the condo and protected from the elements, my great friend and I can expect it to supply upwards of twenty years of operation. The system works by drawing free and sustainable heat energy out of the ground and pumping into the home; In cooling mode, it reverses the operation to run much like a conventional air conditioner. The system produces four times the amount of energy it requires to operate, achieving 400% efficiency ratings. The solar panels are sufficient to run the geothermal heat pump. My friend and I pay no heating or cooling bills.