Warming to a smart idea

Geelong Advertiser
22/09/2007 Page: 20

Point Lonsdale homeowner Donald Payne will be among the first Victorians to boast a home with a renewable heat source using the earth's stored energy. Drilling for the installation of bore holes began this week and Mr Payne, who aims to make the Queenscliff-Portarlington Rd property entirely sustainable, said the "flagship project" was most likely the first of its kind on the Bellarine Peninsula. "It's going to have solar panels, solar hot water, a wind turbine... we've got a vision for it," he said.

Not only does the geothermal technology reduce heating and cooling costs, it can also produce energy savings of up to 75 per cent due to reduced electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The EarthLinked system works by transferring heat in copper earth loops that are bored into the earth, with heat transferred from the ground through a flow control device to a compressor. The refrigerant pressure and temperature are then raised, a hot vapour routed to a heat exchanger and heat transferred to water, which is delivered to the hot water storage tank.

The system can heat water to up to 125F and supplier Energy Core claims it can deliver up to 400 per cent electrical efficiency. Mr Payne said the project on the 40-hectare property, which he owned with his father, would tie in with his recently completed PhD in Physics at the University of Melbourne. "There's talk about doing quite a lot of projects over the next few years and looking to organise a rebate scheme (for the system)," he said.