Geothermal heating has several benefits to homes and buildings. The fact that it uses natural energy makes it the most appealing for homeowners. Since it uses a renewable energy source that will never go out of supply, geothermal heating incurs less operational costs as compared to any other heating system available in the current market. The formation of geothermal energy occurs deep in the earth’s core where temperatures are as hot as more than 6000 degrees Celsius. This explains the reason why geothermal is suitable for both heating and cooling of homes and other infrastructures.
In the past years, some countries used geothermal heating during hot springs as places where people could take a bath for recreational purposes or medical healing. During the Roman period, people had already known that geothermal water notably during hot springs; had positive therapeutic effects on the human bodies. Many believed that the water could help in healing skin diseases.
While examining the effects of geothermal energy with its several applications, it can be noticed that the energy has no negative impact on the environment. For instance, using geothermal heating emits no fumes. In addition, the absence of fans like those in electric cooling and heating make the geothermal energy less noisy. Perhaps, the only environmental associated problem that can occur when installing it is the digging up of home lawn when burying pipes underground. The geothermal home heating project usually involves a closed loop system, which needs underground installation.
Apart from home installation of a home geothermal heating system, large projects have a potential of causing environmental damages during installation. For instance, the generation of electricity using superheated water involves the drilling of the ground in order to release the steam, which is generated at the interface of the underground water and the magma.
Even though the drilling process may already cause environmental damage, the construction process to build the large equipment that can generate a large-scale power supply has more adverse effects to the environment than home installations.
Since the area with much steam is normally located in remote and rugged landscapes, there is a need for road construction in order to transport the required machinery. The process usually involves several professionals, with environmental consultants hired in order to obtain the necessary permits for the project.
Generally, geothermal energy is the best heating and cooling option, as it uses non-renewable energy resources that are environmental friendly. In terms of long-term applications, the geothermal heating is cost effective without significant environmental destruction.
