NORMAN — Ideal Homes and Caddo Electric Cooperative plan to start three new geothermal additions this fall in Yukon. Every home built in Ideal's Somers Pointe, Somers Village and Springs at Settlers Ridge neighborhoods will come with a ClimateMaster geothermal heat pump and incentives that offset thousands of dollars in installation costs. Somers Pointe is south of Reno Avenue on Garth Brooks Boulevard. Somers Village is west of Garth Brooks Boulevard on Reno. Springs at Settlers Ridge is north of Reno on Garth Brooks Boulevard.

The biggest part of the cost for geothermal heating and cooling is for installation of the buried pipe loops. Ideal's partnership with Caddo Electric replaces thousands of dollars in installation costs with a small monthly thermal energy fee.

Geothermal heating and cooling uses a high-efficiency heat pump and sealed underground piping loops filled with water to exchange heat between the home and the earth. Ideal also is starting to offer solar energy options. In residential solar generation systems, photocells convert sunlight into electricity, and the system turns it into usable power for the home, offsetting the amount of electricity the homeowner has to buy. A fully functioning solar system is on display in the Ideal model home in the Village Verde addition, off Northwest Expressway just west of Kilpatrick Turnpike.