Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Hvac topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ground‑source geothermal costs create roughly $29M incremental gap; advisory team to refine LCCA in schematic design
Summary
Designers told the advisory group that a full ground‑source heat‑pump system has much higher upfront borefield and installation costs than air‑source alternatives, yielding an approximate $29 million incremental first‑cost gap in PSR; that gap is not fully offset by Mass Save incentives and annual energy savings across a 50‑year LCCA.
Martina summarized the LCCA approach and the HVAC comparisons: the analysis uses a 50‑year horizon with 3% escalation and includes initial, replacement, maintenance and energy costs plus incentives. "Ground source heat pump is a bit lower than the air to water heat pump in terms of energy used per square foot," she said, but added the borefield installation creates much higher upfront cost.
She told the group the PSR results show that "incremental cost between the ground source and the air source... it's close to 29,000,000." The team noted Mass Save incentives (capped near $3,000,000 in the PSR table) and other incentives help reduce upfront cost but do not close the gap; IRA incentives will be presented separately in SD because their availability is volatile.
Matt and Martina described three HVAC options the advisory team will compare in SD: Option 1 — 100% ground‑source geothermal; Option 2 — hybrid ~50/50 ground and air‑source; Option 3 — 100% air‑source air‑to‑water heat pumps. The LCCA will also include a parallel analysis for the pool HVAC because pool energy intensity skews whole‑building EUI.
