As I have been out talking with voters and knocking on doors I'm gaining lots of new insights and perspectives. One resident took a few minutes to show me the wildflowers growing in his backyard. Interestingly, these wildflowers are hiding a big part of his home's infrastructure.
No, it wasn't a septic system. They were growing over a geothermal well field. Geothermal wells allow properties/homes/buildings to take advantage of the relatively constant temperature of the earth hundreds of feet below the surface and turn that into heating or cooling.
Like a cave, this ground temperature is warmer than the air above it during the winter and cooler than the air in the summer. [A Geothermal Heat Pump] takes advantage of these more favorable temperatures to become high efficient by exchanging heat with the earth through a ground heat exchanger. - U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
From the wildflowers, the wells have a "closed loop" of tubing that runs from deep underground into the house, where they connect to something that looks like a furnace, but is actually a heat pump that can heat, cool, and supply the house with hot water. The great thing about this system is is doesn't use any gas, oil or coal to provide heat, it runs off of electricity, which can come from renewable sources.
The installation price of a geothermal system can cost several times that of a "traditional" system but the difference can be made up in energy savings in 5 to 10 years..."depending on the cost of energy and available incentives," according to the Department of Energy. I think it would be interesting to explore those incentive possibilities from the federal, state, county and city level to encourage more people to switch their systems.
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