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Replacing old fossil fuel or electric furnaces with geothermal heat pumps could create green jobs, increase energy efficiency, and reduce carbon emissions, according to the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium.
The Consortium says that spending a US$2,000 rebate on the purchase of a geothermal heat pump – or the availability of low interest loans – could generate an additional 200 heat pump sales every month in a typical state, or 2400 geothermal heat pump unit sales at the end of the first year. Further, it says, every 18 heat pump installations can create one new job. By the end of the first year that means 133 new green collar jobs can be created. At $2,000 per unit, the total cost of a job creation/energy efficiency rebate program would be $4.8 million over the course of a year.
Every geothermal heat pump requires 24 hours of manufacturing labor and 32 hours of installation labor. Small businesses involved in the installation include heating and air-conditioning contractors, electricians, plumbers, excavators and drilling machine operators. These businesses have the capacity and technical skills to begin installing green geothermal technology in more homes immediately.
In addition to creating jobs, the Consortium says that installing geothermal heat pumps would cut an average four metric tons of carbon emissions per year per unit, due to the high energy efficiency of geothermal heat pump technology. This means that for the average unit life of 24.4 years, 97.6 metric tons of emissions could be eliminated over the lifetime of each unit, and 234,240 tons over the lifetime of every 2,400 units sold through a state rebate program.
Geothermal heat pumps are built by manufacturers in the United States at domestic plants in nine states, and geothermal systems are operating and saving energy in all 50 states and are being exported around the globe.
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