Stories

What is the most common mistake in new construction? Not accurately calculating the total cost of ownership of your new home.

One area that is often overlooked is the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. The HVAC system will easily have the biggest impact on your monthly budget and daily comfort, yet for many is an afterthought.

Geothermal systems offer astounding savings that will allow you to re-invest the money you save back into your home. Imagine being able to afford to put extra money onto your mortgage payment each and every month! That is a given with a Geothermal system, thanks to lower operating costs on heating and cooling. Why not start with the most efficient and lowest operating cost solution available on the market today?

While the upfront cost for a geothermal system is higher than everyday gas or electric heating and cooling options, no other system provides the monthly savings and overall cost of ownership that geothermal offers.

The 2nd most common mistake in new home construction. Under-utilizing the benefits realized. 

Saving is only saving if that is what you actually do with it!

Say you save $75.00 monthly on energy costs using your new Geothermal heat pump system. While the $75.00 figure is realistic in some cases, in actual fact, this can vary considerably and generate more substantial monthly savings. What will you be doing with this "savings"? Purchasing some new tools, shoes or another night out? Considering the cost of geothermal installation, wouldn't it be just prudent to capture all related energy usage savings and make it work overtime for you?

To maximize the full geothermal energy advantages let's harvest the true value by using these saving strategically. If placed back against your initial mortgage, monthly energy savings of a properly sized and designed Geothermal system can take four or five years off of a 25 year mortgage -and this is in addition to the amazing heating and cooling comfort your new system will be providing. At all times, but specifically in an era of uncertain energy costs, this is an option with a very "real world" consequence.

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Currently the MGEIP, Manitoba Geothermal Energy Incentive Program provides qualified homeowners up to $5000.00 incentives to offset the cost to install geothermal energy in new or existing homes. Additionally, eligible commercial geothermal installations and District/Community Geothermal Systems can qualify for substantial tax incentives for installations as well.

To date, over 1000 Manitobans have shared incentives of over 3 million dollars to help mitigate the cost of geothermal installation. Manitoba Hydro as well has programs in place to assist in retrofits and new installs in the form of affordable financing.

kc&b geoexchange has all the current details on incentive programs to offset the cost to install geothermal as well as providing assistance in the application process itself thus making it easier for homeowners to take advantage of programs available to them.

kc&b geoexchange is a member of Manitoba Geothermal Energy Alliance.   All MGEA members must adhere to the Code of Practice, meet standards and be a member in good standing

What is residential commissioning? A good commissioning process will first test individual HVAC (heating, ventilation air-conditioning) components for defects and performance, then test each system, and finally look at system interactions and the performance of the house as a whole under all anticipated operating conditions. A total HVAC systems design inspection including all home heating and cooling systems. 

The simple definition-commissioning is all about looking for things that aren’t right and fixing them. The aim is for the whole house to perform as intended. The truth is, most new homes are never commissioned in this way. Why is that? The need for HVAC systems design commissioning is not really all that intuitive. If all the in-house mechanical systems are new, hooked up and plugged in, it should work right? Not always so. In many new homes the duct work leaks, is sized incorrectly, maybe blocked by construction/shipping material, completely disconnected from the

It’s all around us. Heat stored up within the Earth acting like a solar battery which absorbs nearly half of the sun's energy. This results in a relatively constant ground temperature through all seasons. 

Enter the ground source heat pump. 

Geothermal systems access this renewable resource by simply moving this heat around instead of creating it. Using a system of ground loops which circulate an anti-freeze mixture that picks up the earth’s temperature, these loops then connect to a geothermal unit located within your house or structure.

This in-house unit, the ground source heat pump, is in turn connected to your homes forced air, (or radiant floor) system. This fluid from the loops, which has picked up the earth’s temperature, flows through the heat pump which in turn "harvests" the earth’s heat, using a compressor system for the extraction process.

In the summer season, this process is simply reversed allowing for free air conditioning when the ground source heat pump draws the heat from the inside of the house and transfers it back into the earth for later use.