Chad Mayes of Pro-Air HVAC, Bloomington, Ryan Kerry of Great Lakes Geothermal, Carol Stream, Don Taylor of Corn Belt Energy in Bloomington and Chris Smith of EnerTech Manufacturing/GeoComfort, Greenville, have been elected to the Geothermal Alliance of Illinois board of directors. The election took place at the second annual meeting of the GAOI during the Midwest Geothermal Conference in Dubuque.

The four new directors are joined by Bob Dickey of Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative, Paxton, who was returned to the board. Mayes returns to the board after serving a one-year term in the GAOI’s first year. Ryan Kelly takes the board position of his brother Brady, who served for the GAOI’s first two years.

We thank outgoing directors Jim Carey, USA Geothermal, Belvedere, Mark Layton, Kickapoo Drilling, Downs; Brady Kerry, Great Lakes Geothermal; and John Freitag, Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives, Springfield, who each depart from the board after two years of leadership.

The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424) offers  tax credit of 30% to homeowners who install a geothermal (ground source heat pump) system on their property. The property must be residential property within the United States, but does not need to be primary residence. Please note that the credit excludes geothermal systems used solely for swimming pools and/or hot tubs. The 30% tax credit counts toward the heat pump,ground loop and related equipment. Labor costs for excavation and installing the loopfield,installing the heat pump,and any other plumbing, wiring and/or ducting needed to make the system work are also included. The system must meet or exceed current Energy Star requirments,and be placed into service after December 31, 2007 H.R. 1424 caps the credit at $2,000. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 sweetens the deal for geothermal. Everything basically stays the same, except that the $2000 Cap to the tax credit has been eliminated.Now you can install Geosystem and take full advantage of the 30% tax credit! This legislation is good for installations placed into service from January 1,2009 through December 31st, 2016.

An extension of the Commerical Building Tax Deduction until 2013 that allows building owners to deduct up to $1.80 per square foot for improvement in overall Performance.

Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit Form 5695 www.irs.gov

Geothermal heating and cooling remains the best, most comfortable and most affordable heating and cooling technology available today. At 300-plus percent efficiency, no other heating and cooling systems on the market even come close to the operating costs of geo. The graphic chart (left) comes from the Adams Outlet newsletter of Adams Electric Cooperative, Camp Point. It shows the heating value comparison for various heating systems and fuels. It is based upon an electric heat rate of 6 cents per kolowatt hour, $1.30 per therm of natural gas and $2.19 per gallon for propane.

You will note that no other fuel, or type of heating system, even comes close to matching geothermal heating on operating costs. Geothermal's efficiency and comfort make it simply the best heating-cooling technology available today.