In Ottawa, are geothermal heat pumps efficient?

Great question, and the answer is yes, geothermal heating systems can be efficient in cold climates, but as for recouping cost, that’s a toss up. Geothermal heating systems are a tough one for us to recommend people do, or to dissuade them from doing, because using the stable temperatures of the ground and running that through one of the best heat pumps for heating and cooling buildings and houses, is a very sustainable and low carbon way to heat and cool a home. It may be useful to understand how heat pumps work by reading this guide.

You can find a pretty detailed breakdown on this page –

Is geothermal heating (GSHP) worth the investment for homes?

And here is a page comparing the effectiveness of air source heat pumps (ASHP) and ground source heat pumps (GSHP), which was done in a similar climate to Ottawa at the Living City Campus just outside of Toronto.

Geothermal systems will knock a percentage off your heating cost, so whether or not the installation cost will offer a reasonable return on investment for homeowners is really determined by the heat load of the house and existing bills. The times it for sure makes sense is when there is a very large footprint of a new home or a very poorly-insulated and leaky building envelope of an older home.

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