During IGSHPA’s January Town Hall, the organization gave an overview of this mission. Joe Parsons, senior marketing sustainability manager at Climate Control Group, and John O’Hara, vice president of public relations and public affairs at Mower, discussed why geothermal is growing, why launch Mission Geo in the first place, changing perceptions, and what this means for trade professionals.  

 

Geothermal Growth 

Why is geothermal growing? Well, when evaluating the money it could save, and the efficiency and longevity it could bring, it’s because it makes sense.  

According to the presentation, geothermal provides cost savings of 30% to 60% on heating costs, and 20% to 50% on cooling costs annually.  

“And then longevity, with the confirmation through ASHRAE: These systems have a useful life exceeding 24, 25 years,” Parsons said. “And ground heat exchangers, as we term them, now are warranted for 50 years, and certainly can last a lot longer than that.” 

Another thing that has led to the growth of this market are some of the commercial tax incentives offered.  

“We have tax credits that begin at 30% that can be increased by 10% including domestic content, depending on where the systems are located; we're looking at an additional 10% for energy communities,” Parsons said. “And there are other incentives through section 179D that can increase and build on the incentives, so that you're looking at up to $5 per square foot for tax deductions.” 

There is also a five-year accelerated depreciation and a first-year bonus depreciation. Additionally, non-profits can opt for direct pay. 

There are also residential tax credits available. While there have been tax credits available for some time for the installation of residential geothermal, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) extended those through 2034. 

"And it's certainly driving adoption of the technology to help offset some of the cost of installing ground-source heat pumps,” Parsons said.

 

Why Mission Geo 

While geothermal is growing, the industry needs to reach a point where it's growing at a much more rapid rate. Enter: Mission Geo, a concept around creating awareness for the technology. Mission Geo was officially launched on December 3, 2024, and it was in the works for about 16 months prior. 

Initial research was around establishing a baseline to understand where the geothermal industry stood — how many geothermal systems were sold and where. There needed to be some sort of KPIs to determine the success of Mission Geo. 

Once the baseline was established and the research confirmed, the roadmap for Mission Geo had to be developed.  

“Mission Geo is actually a multi-year program,” Parsons said. “It's not just about creating general awareness, but it's looking at how we find the right partners to grow this industry. … Obviously, working with a professional public relations firm was a major component of what this program looks like.” 

Mission Geo is a component of the GeoExchange organization, and another part of the selection process was finding the leader for Mission Geo, and then how the initiative would be rolled out. 

“As Mission Geo moves forward, they will focus on looking at states where there is certainly promise there to help utilities, and to help local state organizations, to grow those markets,” Parsons said. “The opportunity is there. We have residential and commercial incentives that are out there today. We have the solution for grid management at an affordable rate. Thus, we have a need for Mission Geo to have that voice. To speak with one voice. To work, as an industry, to have content out there that can be used to educate businesses around the opportunities for ground source heat pumps. We can't expect companies to move forward until we can provide them with some assurances that we're moving forward in the right direction.” 

 

Changing Perceptions 

Looking ahead, Mission Geo is working to change some of the misperceptions contractors and consumers may have about ground-source heat pumps, along with uncertainty around how the available incentives may change with the new administration, and the concern of whether or not the grid can handle the increased install of geothermal. They’ll start by reaching the people actually doing the work, as opposed to just generating more interest from consumers.  

“From past research and past marketing experiences, we know that creating more demand from homeowners and building owners won't necessarily help us grow if we don't have the contractors, drillers, and architects who are able or willing to install these types of projects,” said O’Hara. “So, our first phase will really be concentrating on using all the tools in our marketing toolbox to help raise awareness and change perceptions among trade professionals. And we'll be developing a variety of materials that can be used on our website, on social media, or in articles.” 

Mission Geo is also going to focus on a proactive, ongoing public relations campaign focusing on “earned media,” or getting more coverage of geothermal in the press. Their spokespeople have even undergone media training to help them communicate their key messages, as well as to manage any difficult questions and situations. 

“One of the other aspects of this is really creating a steady stream of news with case studies about projects, opinion pieces about key topics, and really information about workforce development,” O’Hara said. 

Additionally, Mission Geo is starting to get active on social media, including LinkedIn, gaining followers quickly.  

“We'll also be launching a Mission Geo Reddit site,” O’Hara said. “This is exciting for us. It's something a little different, and there's a lot of technical discussions that go on at Reddit, and we think it's going to be a great opportunity for us to engage with the folks and really to help correct some of the misperceptions that are out there.” 

Mission Geo also plans to develop longer pieces of content, like e-books and whitepapers, to really give people an in-depth look at geothermal.  

What does all this really mean for HVAC professionals? It means bigger markets.  

“As we move forward, we'll be able to expand the markets and more demand, ultimately,” O’Hara said. “As we know, all boats rise in a flood. So that it means organizations will take better advantage of workforce development and education opportunities offered by IGSHPA and others. It'll mean you have another resource of information in addition to the great programs like GeoExchange and IGSHPA. Mission Geo is another resource for that.”