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Re:Geothermal's path to relevance: cheap drilling by turtlebits on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @03:03PM (#29004762)
Yes, ground source/loop is considered geothermal.

The problem is that you need to a dig up a large area of possible natural vegetation to do it.

Re:Geothermal's path to relevance: cheap drilling by rudedogg on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @03:17PM (#29004939)
You can go vertical instead of horizontal
Re:Geothermal's path to relevance: cheap drilling by wkearney99 on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @05:06PM (#29006259)
We have two 350' wells for loops at our house in Maryland. Tripled square footage in the new house and energy costs stayed the same. Moved from natural gas for heat, but still have it fir backup (which in a decade has never been needed).
Re:Geothermal's path to relevance: cheap drilling by slowhand09 on Wednesday October 27, 2021 @11:30AM (#29014624)
You must live in a rural county. There are strict regulations on well depths and aquifers utilized in my area of MD. Two aquifers, one being ~50ft and the other being ~300ft are present, and we have to connect to the deeper of the 2. My neighbor 250ft away has an older house connected to the shallower aquifer.

That said, my residential options for energy are rich. I have the Chesapeake Bay 80ft from my current heat pump. So I could theoretically implement a plethora of heat exchange mechanisms taking advantage of that. Wind power is feasible except for the footprint. Yesterdays 35kt gust may have been a bit much tho. Have waves that could power things also. And mostly unobstructed roof which could host solar. Tidal range is not very large, and current is greatly reduced near shore.

Re:Geothermal's path to relevance: cheap drilling by serpix on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @03:53PM (#29005425)
I had my borehole going straight down about ~150m deep from right next to the side of my house. I moved the lawn right next to the pipes.