February 6, 2009
I want to convert my warehouse in Brooklyn into a green building using geothermal heat and I’m not sure where to begin. -John
John, nice to know you are looking to make some changes to your building. I have a few initial pieces of advice. Geothermal is great, but
I recommend you first take a look at your existing energy use and see if improvements can be made there first. If you are losing a lot of heat through your building envelope for instance all your investment in geothermal will literally just go out the window.
Once your building is as efficient as possible, then geothermal might be a great option to even further reduce the energy you need to use. There are a lot of geothermal installers out there, so it’s really about getting a couple in to walk your space, give you a quote and for you to see who you are comfortable with.
Below are links to external sources that may be useful to you in starting to learn more about geothermal and about professionals in the area. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the state organization charged with promoting energy efficiency offers a
primer for learning about geothermal systems and they also have a list of installers and designers. HeatSpring, which is a company that educates building professionals has a
resource section includes information about systems, incentives and installers.
I hope this helps you get started.
