Geothermal Heat Pump - Differing Terms and Definitions

Differing Terms and Definitions

Some confusion exists with regard to the terminology of heat pumps and the use of the term "geothermal". "Geothermal" derives from the Greek and means "heat from the Earth" - geologists understand it as describing hot rocks, volcanic activity or heat derived from deep in the earth. Confusion arises when the term "geothermal" is also used to apply to temperatures within the first 100 metres of the surface which closely match the mean annual air temperature at the surface where the sun is the predominant influence on temperature. Below 100 metres (330 ft), geothermal heat, as understood by geologists, begins to become significant as the Geothermal gradient increases by 2°C with each 100 metres (330 ft) of depth.

Read more about this topic:  Geothermal Heat Pump

Famous quotes containing the words differing, terms and/or definitions:

    Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will—whatever we may think.
    Lawrence Durrell (1914–1991)

    Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.
    Louis Aragon (1897–1982)

    Lord Byron is an exceedingly interesting person, and as such is it not to be regretted that he is a slave to the vilest and most vulgar prejudices, and as mad as the winds?
    There have been many definitions of beauty in art. What is it? Beauty is what the untrained eyes consider abominable.
    Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)