New York Residential Development Taps into Geothermal’s Benefits
After completing a historic geothermal project in 2009 for a net-zero residential development in New York, Lloyd Hamilton was ready for a new challenge. That’s exactly what he got when Anthony Aebi, president, Greenhill Contracting Inc., Rhinebeck, New York, asked him to devise a geothermal solution to heat and cool nine net-zero-ready homes in nearby Mountain Vista, New York.
“When I worked with Anthony in 2009, I was thrilled to be his HVAC and building energy consultant,” said Hamilton, a certified geothermal designer and president of Verdae LLC. “We were making history. The original net-zero development was called Green Acres. It consisted of 25 high-end homes in New Paltz, New York, each incorporating insulated concrete form (ICF) construction, solar panels, and a WaterFurnace Intl. Inc. Envision geothermal system. The selling point for these homes was tremendous comfort and indoor quality, plus an annual heating and cooling energy cost that came to zero. In fact, most of the homes earned money by selling electricity back to the utility.