August 12, 2009 – Portsmouth, NH: American EcoThermal Inc., (AET) a leading turn-key provider of Geothermal Heating and Cooling systems for both Commercial and Residential customers across New England, is pleased to announce the availability of their Patented Geothermal Service Provider program called EcoTherm®. This program is designed to address the major hurdle associated with the additional capital cost of installing a geothermal heating and cooling system; the exterior portion or ground loops. Under the EcoTherm® program, AET owns the exterior portion of the geothermal system, also known as Ground Source Heat Exchange, with AET receiving monthly payments from the client during a 10 year contract period. These payments have a fixed price which is locked in for the length of the contract. At the end of the contract period the client may purchase the exterior portion for a price determined at the beginning of the contract or renew the contract for an additional period at the then prevailing fixed price. For example, a customer signing a 10 year residential contract today would be locking in the equivalent of heating oil at $2.05 versus a current “local” price of approximately $2.50 per gallon, a savings of 15%. Our service provider program is an innovative way of making geothermal heating and cooling affordable to everyone.

While the Ground Source Heat Exchange technology has been around for nearly 100 years in this country, it has really begun to explode over the last 4 years notes Andy Livingston, AET’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Livingston, a 27-year veteran of the Clean Energy industry went on to say, “One need only look to Western Europe, where Ground Source Heat Exchange provides upwards of 80% of all the heating and cooling for homes, businesses and municipal buildings in countries like Sweden and Switzerland”. “These countries have had to deal with high energy prices for years and they have found geothermal to be the solution”. Chris Battis, Senior Residential Sales Associate for AET adds, “we’ve had a tremendous response from customer’s about this program”. “The program looks very much like a mobile phone contract – it’s something people can easily relate to”.

A 2008 Department of Energy study done by Oak Ridge National Laboratory cited Ground Source Heat Exchange as proven technology for producing large reductions in energy use and peak demand. The report also cited the main hurdle for aggressive deployment of this technology as the added cost of the outside ground loop infrastructure. We at American EcoThermal believe we have addressed this issue with our EcoTherm® program. “In these difficult economic times, the last thing people need is uncertainty related to their home heating bills”, Shawn Bristow, co-founder of AET noted. “We need to increase our energy independence and geothermal heating and cooling is the safest, cleanest and most cost-effective way to do that”, he added.

In an effort to introduce our EcoTherm® program and protect our neighbors from volatile fossil fuel markets this winter, AET has set a maximum monthly price of $100 per month for any residential system up to six tons in capacity (a house of approximately 3,500 square feet would typically require six tons of heating capacity) that is contracted by October 31, 2009. “A typical New England home of 2,500 square feet costs $25 per day to heat during the winter” according to Bristow. “By offering our EcoTherm program, we feel confident that New England homeowners can begin the journey toward energy independence”. AET is offering a similar program to commercial customers as well as municipal and non-profits. Please contact John Frodyma, Peter Alabiso or Phil Koch, Directors of Commercial Development for more information.