New Natural Gas Initiative - Lock in prices for 5 years - Good idea?

[Veng68]

Originally Posted by Justusfish

I have my hot water and heat for the house with geothermal that is composed of four 160 foot wells in my backyard that "extract" the heat from the earth below the frost line. Works like a charm, but still uses a bit of power to run the system. I'd LOVE to be completely off the grid, but that is years in the future, I imagine.

My power was out for three days in the snow storm and I was thankful the house had fireplaces as well or I would have frozen to death!!

If you don't mind me asking........ did you install this in an existing house or did you build a house and have it built? Was it expensive to set up?

I'd love to have geothermal heating for the house and hot water.

Cheers,
Vic [veng68] South Van

[Justusfish]

I bought an old 1909 house that needed to be completely restored and added the geothermal when the house was stripped to its studs. Four wells we drilled into the back yard at 160 feet. The idiot installer that did it actually should have drilled five wells so my system runs at 85 percent capacity. So on the coldest days of the year, I turn on a fire place on the main floor and one on the third floor and all is good.

I would do geothermal again in an instant! In the long run it pays for itself and increase resale value, although it did cost a whopping 35,000!

It was more a green choice than an economic one. I am striving to eventually be off the grid. 15 more years for that, I figure.

I'm researching this technology that is similar to solar power but uses a different light band so it doesn't rely on "sunny" days. I'll let you know as I find out more.

I have just heard about it and can't remember the name of it.
Imagine putting up a few panels and running your house and/or tank at a reduced price!!! Plus, if there is a power outage on the main grid, you're less affected! My dream.

[justinl]

wow that does sound cool. let us know what you find!

[Veng68]

It would be great running a reef tank on solar or similar power systems...... but realistically (at least at the moment) running a reef off the grid seems quite impossible because of the high energy demands (unless it's a nano system).

Cheers,
Vic [veng68]