Geothermal System - Everyone should have one!

Energy prices are continuing to rise at an alarming rate. If you own a home and have to pay for heating and cooling you know that the price to do so is becoming increasingly less affordable. What if you can pay the same monthly bill, and produce your own energy and not have to pay the energy companies for gas, propane or oil? Why not buy a geothermal system.

We decided to do some research to determine whether a geothermal system could make sense for the average consumer. As we are headquartered in Michigan, we decided this would be a great place to start. Michigan is a fairly cold place in the winter, so if a system could make sense here, it would definitely make sense in other areas.

We contacted Energypath and Geothermalspecialties for pricing and information. (A quick note, these are all general numbers, each particular home or business is unique.) A fully installed geothermal unit in an existing home costs roughly $16,000 to $30,000. A replacement geothermal unit replaces both your current air conditioning and heating units.

Currently in Michigan it costs about $4500 for propane, $2400 for gas and $860 for Geothermal a year. Gas, propane and heating oil go up yearly, while the price of geothermal remains fairly constant. The prices for heating and cooling your home do not include the delivery charges or taxes that are paid.

Does it make sense to install roughly a $20,000 unit in your home, and is it cost effective? Yes, the item that makes geothermal economical for today's market is many. First of all, you can finance the unit. Instead of putting a bunch of money up front you can spread out the cost of the unit. Secondly, you are replacing your ever increasing bills with one bill that remains constant and is generally half or more of what you were paying before. The worst case scenario that we can see is that you basically are breaking even on the bills, but the way energy prices are going, we cannot see that happening.

One final note, a geothermal unit can be a fairly good selling item on a house. In today's housing market, any advantage you can create can help sell a home.