2017 IGSHPA Conference
Thursday, April 27, 2017
IGSHPA Conference and Expo Overview
More than 400 people involved in the ground source heat pump industry converged in
Denver, Colorado, for the 2017 IGSHPA Conference and Expo on March 14-16. Fifty-two
people attended the Accredited Installer Workshop, Geo Inspector Workshop, Certified
GeoExchange Designer Workshop, Residential Designer Workshop, Open Loop Geothermal
Solutions Course and Understanding Grouting Applications & Innovations Course trainings
held in conjunction with the annual conference. Seventy industry leaders met face-to-face
on March 13 in marketing, membership, conference planning, research, advocacy, standards
and training committees to continue their work on industry projects. For the first
time, the IGSHPA Conference held a specific research track with presenters worldwide.
The track was coordinated by Dr. Jeff Spitler of Oklahoma State University. Eighty
sessions were held in the following tracks over the two and a half days of conference:
research, residential applications, commercial applications and technical applications.
Conference sponsors were WaterFurnace International, Bosch Thermotechnology, Enertech
Global, EarthLinked Technologies, AWEB Supply, GeoExcel and North American Technician
Excellence. Media partners included ACHR-The News, Engineered Systems, National Driller,
National Groundwater Association and World Wide Drilling Resource.
IGSHPA Board of Directors Update
During the 2017 IGSHPA Conference and Expo in Denver, Colorado, the new slate of
elected IGSHPA Board of Directors were confirmed and new board officers were selected.
IGSHPA would like to welcome Paul Bony, Electric & Gas Industries Association; Dominique
Durbin, Durbin Enterprises and Michael Hadley, Climate Control Heating & Cooling Co.,
Inc.; as new members of the board. New board officers are President-Garen Ewbank,
Ewbank Geo Testing, LLC; Vice-President-Don Penn, Don Penn Consulting Engineers/IEG
Ltd.; Secretary-Jack DiEnna, Geothermal National & International Initiative; and Treasurer-Cary
Smith, Sound Geothermal. Other board members for 2017 are Michael Albertson, WaterFurnace
International; Mark Faulkenberry, Western Farmers Electric Cooperative; Dan Fisher,
Oklahoma State University and Chris Smith, BMSN Consultant. IGSHPA would like to thank
Jack Henrich, Bergerson-Caswell, Inc.; Kerry Rowland, Public Service Company of Oklahoma
and John Turley, Island Synergy Group, LLC. for their service to the board.
Award Winners
The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association hosted its inaugural awards
dinner sponsored by industry manufacturers on March 15 during the 2017 IGSHPA Conference
and Expo in Denver, Colorado. We are pleased to announce the following award recipients.
Jack DiEnna, Geothermal National & International Initiative, received the IGSHPA Ambassador Award.
DiEnna has more than 30 years of experience advocating for the use of ground source
heat pumps. He was recognized for his continuing leadership, support and promotion
of the ground source heat pump industry.
José Acuña, Geoenergy Specialist at Bengt Dahlgren AB and Researcher at KTH Royal Institute of
Technology in Sweden, was the recipient of the Visionary Award. Acuña was recognized
for his work in the creation of the IGSHPA chapter in Sweden, his use of fiber optics
and distributed temperature sensing in geothermal installations as well as his promotion
of the geothermal industry through publications in industry magazines and journals.
Muktha Tumkur was awarded the Friends of the Industry Award. Tumkur led the effort to design the
C448 Design and Installation of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems for Commercial and
Residential Buildings Bi-National Standard governing geothermal installations in the
U.S. and Canada.
geoKOAX, a ground source heat exchange technology manufacturing company, received the Commercial
Innovation Award. geoKOAX specializes in ground source heat pump systems that perform
better than conventional u-bend designs by reducing the required drilling and installation
length, exchanging heat carrier fluids easier during peak load times, and increasing
the energy-harvesting efficiency of the system.
The Boulders, a geothermal development location in Jamestown, California, was awarded the Residential
Innovation Award. The 44 individual residential lots in Northern California offer
families several home features designed to be economical as well as environmentally
sustainable, including installation of each lot’s dedicated vertical ground loop geothermal
heat pump system.