When Tega Homes president Spyro Dimitrakopoulos built the first phase of his Petrino Lofts development, traditional heating fuels, such as natural gas, were still cheap enough for him to pass on higher capital costs of a geothermal heating and cooling system.
But when it came time to plan the second phase of the development, due to start construction later this month, energy costs had started soaring, making geothermal an easier sell for the developer. He uses the environmentally friendly feature as a way to differentiate his high-end units from other builders.
"More and more, people like the idea. They just have to be familiar with that kind of energy," he says.
Geothermal technology heats and cools a building by drawing on the naturally constant underground temperature of the earth. While many commercial builders still balk at its upfront capital costs, those in the geothermal industry say a surge in requests for quotes in the past year or so suggests interest in the green energy system is growing by leaps and bounds.
