Heat pump group verifies 'green' label

"Green” heating and cooling sources are close enough to stand on — within the earth.

But what do people stand on to legitimately claim that installation of a geothermal system is "green”?

They probably rely on training and accreditation from the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association, a Stillwater-based, but international, third-party verifier and trainer of all things to do with geothermal system installation.

Geothermal systems were "green” before it was cool. The association observed its 20th anniversary in 2007.

Resurrected from 1940s obscurity during the 1970s Arab oil embargo as a way to conserve energy and save money, geothermal heating and cooling of homes and businesses has enjoyed renewed popularity with the rising oil and natural gas prices that define the resurrected energy business.

The "green” movement, surging in Oklahoma lately, is bringing even more attention to geothermal systems.

Systems by Oklahoma City-based ClimateMaster are helping make Hope Crossing "green.” ClimateMaster is donating geothermal systems for all of the eventual 215 homes in the addition, which was developed at NE 83 and Kelley Avenue by Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity.

"ClimateMaster has stepped up to the plate in a big way and I'm very appreciative to them for their generosity and the active role they have taken in supporting this project,” said Ann Felton, chairman of Central Oklahoma Habitat.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and ClimateMaster also donated funding to install solar panels on some of the houses to make Hope Crossing even "greener.” OG&E also is helping Habitat get the $4,000 Oklahoma State Energy Efficiency Tax Credit on each house.

Habitat homes built in the recent Builders Blitz are certifiably "green,” certified, in fact, in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Energy savings produced by the geothermal units themselves — 50 to 70 percent higher efficiency for heating, and 20 to 40 percent higher efficiency for cooling, compared with non-geothermal systems — contribute to the points system used to obtain LEED certification.

What about installation of the plastic pipes and the network that actually connects the home or business to the earth? How is that "green”? That's where the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association comes in.

From Cordell Hall on the Oklahoma State University campus, the association's training and accreditation have a global reach, from the ClimateMaster systems installed at Hope Crossing to Zurich, Switzerland, where executive director Jim Bose recently attended a conference on economical heating and cooling systems for low-energy houses.

It's one of the professional-technical organizations that put "green” claims to the test.

"We train people from all over the world,” Bose said, with 8,000 installer and trainers so far.

The