Sadly our industry hasn’t grown versus the overall HVAC market in the 30 plus years I’ve been involved with the technology.
We’re still under 1% of the overall market, this is comparing the geothermal heat pump segment not the total water-source industry. Water-source includes systems that are typically in cooling tower applications, not in ground loop or ground-water applications. Ground loop applications are predominately institutional (schools), high-end residential, DOD (military base) housing and some light commercial applications. The technology has historically seen a few bubbles that would show momentary growth but has not been able to sustain any substantial growth versus the conventional air conditioning market.
One of the major reasons for this is that the geothermal heat pump industry absolutely loves to beat up on itself. Instead of being a unified front for environmentally friendly, high efficient heating and cooling, the industry prefers to battle amongst ourselves for a limited slice of the air conditioning market. Even within our segment, there is a lack of understanding as to what our industry offers.
An excellent case and point is a Dandelion Energy blog post from March of this year. This post was picked up by a few news outlets, not surprising given that Dandelion is part of Alphabet and a sister company to Google. I will link the entire article below but want to address some of the issues noted in their post and the ongoing issue of lack of industry unity.
“Originally conceived at X, the innovation lab run by Google’s parent company Alphabet, Dandelion’s goal is to make geothermal technology as affordable and accessible as possible.”
I want to say that I applaud what Dandelion is attempting to do and understand how difficult it can be to grow the industry. I have been involved as a contractor, manufacturer and product distributor over the past 30 plus years and have a unique perspective to most of my counterparts. The Dandelion model may well be the best way to grow the geothermal heat pump market but it hasn’t quite made the impact that should be possible.
My issues with the article —
While a Google search would have clarified some of the misinformation, typos and misspellings are a pet peeve — at least be consistent. Enertech is correct in the title, EnerTech in the body of the post is not.
“WaterFurnace takes that versatility one step further by being able to work with “combination systems” that heat with radiant flooring and cool with forced air. All three companies are large heat pump manufacturers that distribute their systems to partners all over the country”
Enertech’s CT combo system has been around for many years but sadly doesn’t produce a hit during a Google search for geothermal combination unit — maybe a pass on that one for the writer.
Compass CT (geocomfort.com)
“ClimateMaster, EnerTech, and WaterFurnace offer a wide range of variable speed and two-stage geothermal heat pumps. Dandelion’s geothermal system is a two stage heat pump, which is vastly more efficient than a single stage unit, but significantly less expensive and only marginally less efficient than a variable speed alternative.”
Overall, I agree with the points noted above but clarification is in order as ClimateMaster and WaterFurnace offer a water to air variable speed geothermal heat pump while Enertech does not. Enertech does offer a variable speed water to water geothermal heat pump product.
Though the Dandelion vs blog post wasn’t as combative as the title would imply, it certainly points clearly to one of the largest issues holding the geothermal heat pump market back. It’s time for the industry to stop working against itself and bring geothermal heat pump technology to a broader population base.
Dandelion Energy vs. ClimateMaster, Enertech & Waterfurnace│ Comparing the best Geothermal Heat Pumps
