While well intentioned, geothermal heat pump (GHP) incentives — including rebates, electricity cost reductions, tax incentives, and grants from utilities and governments — can be detrimental to the acceptance of the technology if steps aren’t taken to ensure successful installations. Even with such carrots to motivate adoption of GHP systems, some programs have experienced problems due to improper design, installation, and validation.

Two primary reasons contribute to programming problems. First of all, several programs lack the accountability necessary to verify that a system is designed, installed, and tested. This results in a lack of validated performance and operation, and no end-user follow-up, to ensure the consumer is satisfied with the final product.