Real Estate and Property Market News

Millions of Europeans and Americans have installed geothermal heat pumps, reducing their power bills and minimising their carbon footprints. But Australians have been slow to link up with this underground energy source. Geothermal heat pumps (or ground-source heat pumps) circulate liquid, usually water or antifreeze, through the earth. Heat can be transferred from the earth to the liquid (heating mode) or dispersed to the earth (cooling mode). The underground heat exchange reduces the amount of electricity that would otherwise be used to heat or cool a building. Efficiency is increased because, unlike air temperature, there is little seasonal variation in ground temperature. Thirty metres below Melbourne, the ground temperature is consistently 12 degrees.