Curtis Klaassen, Iowa Energy Center, explains geothermal energy during an Energy Awareness Month brown-bag lunch talk at Ames Laboratory

Ames Lab and Iowa State University employees gathered in the Spedding Hall auditorium on Oct. 24 to learn more about how they could take advantage of the earth’s internal heat for their home heating needs.

Curtis Klaassen, manager of the Iowa Energy Center’s Energy Resource Station, gave the noon talk, “Geothermal Heat Pumps:  The Iowa Experience,” in which he explained the basics of geothermal heat pump system types, their advantages and disadvantages, energy and installation costs, and system economics.  The talk was one of the programs offered by Ames Laboratory in recognition of the DOE’s  Energy Awareness Month campaign, held annually in October.

Klaassen cited Old Faithful, a well-known cone geyser in Yellowstone National Park, as an example of a natural phenomenon driven by geothermal energy.  However, he said we’re not lucky enough to have such geysers in Iowa, so we have to depend on the low-temperature geothermal energy contained near the surface of the earth.  Geothermal heat pump systems are ideal for that purpose.

Klaassen explained that geothermal heat pump systems consist of a heating/cooling delivery system, heat pump, and ground heat exchanger, and are capable of heating, cooling and producing hot water.  He added that geothermal heat pump systems are the most energy-efficient heating and cooling system available, reducing energy costs by 20 percent to 35 percent and having a typical payback of five to ten years.