The midwest gets seriously cold in the middle of winter. Winter is still six months away, but I have a big choice to make now. I built a new house on five acres. This will be where I retire in a few years. So, I want to be sure that I make sound decisions about the HVAC heating choice. The traditional furnace is not in my plans. I’ve never been a big fan. I had one leak carbon monoxide once that lead to a very dangerous situation. Reasonable or not, that sort of put me off the furnace. I have had great success with heat pumps. I moved back to the midwest from the South. My house had a heat pump that was great at cooling and more than sufficient heating. However, it never got really cold there like it does in the midwest. The heat pump was efficient but I’m afraid it won’t be enough. So, I’ve looked into Geothermal heating. This system uses a closed loop that travels underground to heat and cool the house. The loop is a large tube that carries water to seize heat energy from the earth. The earth’s ground has a constant temperature of around fifty five degrees. The Geothermal heating unit is 20% to 40% more efficient than a heat pump in the winter. There are no parts outside to rust or corrode. Geothermal units have far fewer moving parts, so repairs are minimal. They are expected to last a minimum of twenty years. I think I’m leaning toward the geothermal heating unit. It would be nice to not have to replace a heating unit ever again.