A geothermal heat pump (GHP) or ground source heat pump (GSHP) is a central heating and/or cooling system that pumps heat to or from the ground. It uses the earth as a heat source (in the winter) or a heat sink (in the summer).

This design takes advantage of the moderate temperatures in the ground to boost efficiency and reduce the operational costs of conventional heating and cooling systems.

Geothermal heat pumps are also known by a variety of names, including geoexchange, earth-coupled, earth energy or water-source heat pumps. The engineering and scientific communities prefer the terms “geoexchange” or “ground source heat pumps” to avoid confusion with traditional geothermal power, which uses a high temperature heat source to generate electricity.  However, those in the consumer market prefer “geothermal heaters” or “geothermal heat pumps”.

Either way, ground source heat pumps harvest a combination of geothermal power and heat from the sun when heating, but work against these heat sources when used for air conditioning.

Checkout: TERRASource Geothermal Heat Pumps