Geothermal Energy, Heating and CoolingTo fully understand geothermal heating and cooling, you must first understand what geothermal energy is. Geothermal energy is a form of energy conversion provided by nature that can be used by humans for cooking, bathing, heating and generating electricity. Energy is created by capturing and harnessing thermal energy. This heat forms underground and is created by the radioactive decay of certain elements such as potassium, thorium and uranium present on Earth. One way to produce energy from geothermal heat is to use the heat to create steam to drive turbines that turn an electrical generator. This and similar methods can create approximately 1,400,000 terawatt-years, approximately three times the world's annual consumption (Lund 2014). Geothermal heating and cooling is done through a geothermal heat pump, the geothermal heat pump uses the stable temperatures that occur within the first thousand feet of the Earth's surface. This area of ​​the Earth's surface is called the lithosphere. Temperatures in this area can be between forty and eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Geothermal heat pumps cannot be located more than five hundred feet below the Earth's surface. The temperature in this area is between fifty and sixty degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for regulating the temperature of buildings. Geothermal heat pumps are capable of heating the building during the colder months and cooling it during the warmer months by transferring thermal energy from the ground to the surface air through the use of a fluid. There are two types of geothermal heat pump systems: one is closed loop, the fluid is in a system of looped pipes buried in the ground, the other is an open loop system that uses groundwater as heat exchanger. In a typical home, thirty-one of the energy consumption is for heating and cooling, geothermal heating and cooling can save up to fifty percent on energy consumption and the amount of greenhouse gases. greenhouse emitted up to forty percent compared to a mechanical heat pump. Mechanical heat pump systems all have a few common components: a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator. The entire system is made up of pipes in which a fluid circulates allowing heat transfer. The evaporator is what transfers heat from the air in the room to the fluid inside the pipe system. The condenser is what captures heat from the fluid and transfers it to the outside air..