Living by Bliss

We can’t foresee all of  life’s developments, so we must be able to alter our narratives to accommodate subtle and severe changes, like tweaking a thesis when writing leads you to unexpected places.

I have had to edit recently — so far so good.

Last week, I began working for my family’s business, Geremia Pools.  Functioning in Sacramento since 1922 and building pools since the 1950s, I have jumped into a vat of ancestral knowledge that I need to catch up on — I don’t know much about pools, unfortunately.

One piece I do understand is Geremia’s latest innovation — GeoSmart Technology — a hybrid geothermal heating and cooling system that uses a swimming pool to efficiently transfer heat to and from a home.  The development of GeoSmart is evidence of a business re-writing its narrative, innovating to combat a flailing economy.  Geremia Pools is editing creatively — so far so good.

I wrote this piece as a GeoSmart primer, just in case you’re interested in a slice of green tech:

Geremia Pools Launches Innovative GeoSmart Technology

Geothermal is quickly becoming a top-tier buzz word for the green energy movement, taking its place alongside solar, wind and hydroelectric energy.

Geremia Pools, a family-owned business in Sacramento since 1922 and northern California’s leading pool-builder, is taking advantage of the region’s swelling interest in green energy. Geremia is pioneering GeoSmart Technology, a hybrid adaptation of traditional geothermal heat systems that drastically reduces energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions and increases the benefits of swimming pool ownership.

“According to the EPA, geothermal is the most energy efficient way to heat or cool your home” says Mike Geremia, President of Geremia Pools.

By installing an environmentally friendly GeoSmart system, home-owners can lower utility costs by up to 70% per month.  Installation also provides peace of mind for those who want to help the environment while still enjoying the comforts of modern life — a GeoSmart installation equates to removing two cars off the road or planting an acre of trees.

Hardly a new technology, first-century Romans used geothermal energy for a rudimentary air circulation process viewed as a pre-cursor the modern HVAC climate control systems.  What goes around, comes around — the Geremia family, with roots in northern Italy, is re-couping some ancestral wisdom with GeoSmart, swinging the pendulum away from expensive, high-polluting HVACs toward an affordable, clean, and natural geothermal energy source.

Climate control systems transfer heat either into or out of the home; traditional HVAC systems strain to transfer heat to and from the air, while geothermal systems efficiently transfer heat to and from the ground, which provides a stable heat sink, relatively independent of geographic or weather variables. A liquid solution facilitates the geothermal transfer, circulating through the ground, delivering heat to a heat-pump, which disperses heat through a home at a controlled level. The system also works in reverse, carrying heat from the home to deposit in the ground — a geothermal loop is highly energy efficient and completely replaces a traditional HVAC system, providing more reliable, consistent, and comfortable climate control.

Cost and access to a body of water are two major obstacles for traditional geothermal systems. Some systems utilize natural lakes and ponds, but drilling is often required to find a water source – this process is very expensive, minimizing the cost-benefit of the installation. These construction costs impose barriers and limit the growth of geothermal systems.

Geremia’s GeoSmart skirts these barriers with its hybrid-geothermal system — an innovative technology that uses swimming pool water as the liquid that facilitates the heat transfer.  This removes expensive drilling costs and enhances overall utility by using energy from the pool and energy stored underground to provide a free energy source to heat and cool a home. Efficiency is further increased by utilizing a heat pump from Water Furnace, maker of the industry’s most efficient, energy saving, and environmentally conscious heat pumps.

Installing a geothermal system with a swimming pool costs almost 60% less than stand-alone installation. When combined with the 30% federal tax credit from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, GeoSmart makes geothermal a realistic option for home owners.

GeoSmart can be retrofit to existing pools or built alongside new pools and can reduce utility costs by up to 70%. GeoSmart also features quiet, reliable operation of a safe, clean and natural technology. GeoSmart installation is optimal when building, re-plastering or remodeling a swimming pool or when replacing a traditional HVAC system.

Geremia Pools is a  trusted builder in the Sacramento community and is comitted to offering home-owners high quality, energy efficient products that improve quality of life and the planet.