Richland County’s new community service building and forthcoming justice center will both use a nontraditional means of heating and cooling – ground source heating. Sidney High School is also in the process of installing the system.

Richland County Commissioner Don Steppler said the reason for the decision to use this method of indoor temperature control was for the long-term energy savings as well. The current system used in many buildings is a boiler. Steppler says the boiler is efficient to a point, but that it is expensive to repair.

“This is also much lower maintenance,” Richland County Commissioner Mark Rehbein added. One reason for the low maintenance is the limited visibility of equipment; it is not exposed to the outdoors. Another reason is the simplicity of the pump and its limited parts.

“It’s essentially compressor technology," architect for the county project Mike Stevenson said. “It’s pretty trouble free.”

Sidney Superintendent of Schools Doug Sullivan said the decision to install ground source heating came from the board of trustees based on the long-term cost and energy savings.

Ground source heating uses water as a transfer of energy and heat. A system of pipes is placed underground and throughout the building. Inside the building are placed several heat pumps. The number of the pumps is dependent on the size of the building. Anti-freeze treated water is pumped through the underground pipes where heat is either absorbed from or rejected to the ground. When the pipes circulate into the building, heat, or energy, is extracted by the pumps and circulated throughout the building.

The process is often compared to how a refrigerator or freezer works by a compressor. A building can be heated and cooled without a boiler or cooling towers.

“The pumps extract three kilowatts of energy for every one kilowatt of energy put in,” Stevenson said. “A regular baseboard heating system gets one kilowatt for every kilowatt put in.”

Thus, as long as gas prices are high, the price of ground source heating will be less expensive.

Stevenson added that heat pumps are beneficial to utilities since electricity is used to run the system, not gas. This helps to provide a usage for the utilities in the winter.

“It cost more upfront, but for a building you plan to own for 50 years or more, it pays in the long haul,” Stevenson said.

reporter@sidneyherald.com