Sierra Club Green Home

mg, Thanks for your inquiry. Let's cut right to the chase -- without additional information, I cannot render an opinion with precision. However, I can provide you with the add'l bits of information you should prepare before soliciting counsel: -What is the existing landscaping on your lot? -Where are your underground utilities (this could effect cost) -Do you have information on the composition of the underlying rock and soil? (This affects heat transfer and system design -- soil with poor heat transfer is more costly) -How much soil do you have available? At this point, my best recommendation would be to contact a national geothermal outpost and provide them with the above information. See if they can recommend something on the phone, if not tell them the issues you are having with the HVAC company and have them point you in the right direction to hiring a different one. Try contacting either the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium (http://www.geoexchange.org/) or the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/index.htm) for starters. As a secondary option, try http://www.nationalgeothermal.com/. Please let me know how this goes. If this does not answer your question, I will be happy to try another source. Here are the reasons Geothermal is in general favorable: 1. One plus is that you live in the mid-west therefore the Earth’s ground temperature is typically consistent around 30 to 40 degrees F, year round. 2. Geo-thermal systems should be thought of as an investment not an expense. They can cut combined heating and A/C bills by 65% to 80%. I’ve seen systems with paybacks less than 6 years. With accompanying incentives and rebates, the payback period could be even less. 3. Geothermal energy is completely renewable. The 1 million homes that use geothermal energy save about 9 billion pounds of CO2 per year! Thanks, Jennifer