Sunday, February 1, 2026

Geothermal Heat and Cooling in New Home Construction



 My husband and I volunteer for our community's historical society. We joined the society soon after moving to Colorado from New York, as we knew it would be a nice way to meet people and also learn about the history in our county and community.
 We enjoyed volunteering for many years at a National Historic Cemetery, established in 1838 in Brooklyn, NY, called GreenWood Cemetery, where, along with other volunteers, we helped a historian research the Civil War Project. That project wanted to record the burial sites of veterans of the US Civil War buried in the cemetery. We knew of a few famous soldiers from their grand monuments, and expected to find a few hundred more veterans' graves. Instead, we discovered over 5,200 graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers, many with interesting stories. You can see my posts about this cemetery on this label - there are 19 posts in all!

I know you are thinking: "How nice, but what does this have to do with geothermal heat and cooling?"

Please read on...

As part of our duties in our historical society, we help to maintain a large archival collection that began with the first resident volunteers in our community who formed our historical society in the 1980s. They collected brochures of the home construction in progress at that time, when our area was being converted from a cattle ranch to a residential community. 

Since new homes were now being built in our area, I went to collect the new homes' brochures to save for our archives. That is when I learned that one of the builders was installing geothermal heating and cooling in the homes. I was surprised to learn this fact, and very interested to learn more!


The Lennar company announced a partnership that will integrate Dandelion’s geothermal heat pump systems into over 1,500 newly-built homes across 14 Lennar communities in Colorado over the next two years, and the new homes going up in our community are the first!


Please click this photo to enlarge it for easier viewing of the information. 

Geothermal technology taps into the natural heat found below Earth’s surface to provide heating, cooling, and electricity. Geothermal use generally falls into one of three categories: (1) heat pumps, which are shallow geothermal systems that provide heating and cooling; (2) direct use, where natural hot water is applied to tasks that require heat, such as warming buildings or pasteurizing food; and (3) electricity generation. The homes being built in our area will have the first option of heat pumps.


Please click on the photo to enlarge it


The rocks and soils below a building or community act as a heat sink—absorbing excess heat during summer, when surface temperatures are relatively higher—and as a heat source during the winter, when surface temperatures are lower.
Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP) use the constant temperature of the shallow earth (40–70°F) to provide heating and cooling solutions to buildings wherever the ground can be cost-effectively accessed to depths below seasonal temperature variations.
GHPs increase the efficiency and reduce the energy consumption of heating and cooling systems in residential and commercial buildings. They are currently deployed across all 50 states, and the market is growing as their value becomes better understood.

Learn more about geothermal heat pumps and their potential to reduce the need for new grid transmission infrastructure.



Please click on the photo to enlarge it for easier viewing of the information.

GeoThermal Heat pumps can be used anywhere and come in many sizes, including small heat pumps that can be used to heat and cool homes instead of furnaces and air conditioning units. Heat pumps provide an outstanding opportunity to improve air quality and reduce contributions to climate change. They offer no danger of carbon monoxide, have zero emissions, and add no indoor air pollution.
The drawback is that Geothermal heating and cooling are very efficient but expensive — unless the systems are built into new homes from the start. However, recent state, federal, and local incentives have made geothermal more cost-effective than ever. Some of the incentives are covering up to 50% of installation costs, depending on location.

 
Because of all the pros and despite some of the cons, Geothermal Heating and Cooling looked very attractive to me, and I hope more builders incorporate it into new construction. 


Meanwhile, in life around here, we are still having unusually warm weather for winter and hardly any snow.  What little snow we get melts within hours as daytime temperatures rise.


I recently saw this pretty Mountain Bluebird in my backyard.  
It was intently searching for something under and around the fallen leaves for quite some time. 
I hope he was looking for insects to eat, and not nest-building material, thinking it was spring! 



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Sunday, January 25, 2026

The Madden Gallery at the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Colorado




Our daughter works in an office building in the Greenwood Village area of Colorado and wanted to view an exhibit in a new gallery, part of the Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA), which opened in the fall of 2025. We had a prior visit to the Marjorie Park Sculpture Park in July of last year, and we were also interested to see the indoor gallery.  We met our daughter at her office during her lunch hour to walk over to the Palazzo Verdi, a 15-story office building located at 66363 Fiddlers Green Circle. 



The Palazzo Verdi's building lobby space was recently renovated to include the 10,000 sq foot Madden Gallery, which will host three to four temporary art exhibitions each year.
Formerly known as The Madden Museum of Art, the gallery space was founded by MOA Co-Founders John and Marjorie Madden and first opened in October 2008 alongside the debut of the Palazzo Verdi office building. The Madden Gallery now offers regular hours, is open to the public, and is currently free of charge.



The first exhibit was "Metaphorming TIME" by Todd Siler.

Exhibition Dates: October 21st 2025 – February 13, 2026


According to the Madden Gallery's web site: 

This exhibition showcases a selection of Todd Siler’s paintings, sculptures, drawings, monotypes, and artist’s books—works he calls “Metaphorms.” Rooted in the creative processes of the human brain, Siler’s art fuses symbolic language, metaphor, and invention to explore time as the universal connector linking all aspects of life.

Through neural-inspired textures and thought-provoking imagery, Siler examines humanity’s past, present, and future: how we confront urgent global challenges, how civilizations rise and fall, and how creativity can shape a more sustainable future. His practice, grounded in the principles of ArtScience and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), invites viewers to engage as “Metaphormers”—lifelong learners, creators, and problem-solvers.

Metaphorming TIME is both a reflection on human ingenuity and a call to collective action, inspiring audiences to imagine and build a better world together.



Siler explains his predominantly mixed media art on his website:

"I’m a Cerebralist! I meld abstract and representational forms with sensual and conceptual elements, using all media and means of communicating. For the past three decades, I’ve explored the nature of the human mind and creative process: how we think, create, learn, invent, innovate, and communicate. My art shows how the mind is connected to all of its creations: from the words we use to describe our thoughts & feelings to the technologies we build to see everything in the world that words cannot fully describe...




...Cerebralism encompasses all forms and expressions of art. Through art, we can connect and transform everything (information, knowledge, ideas, experiences) to create new meanings and purposes for everything. Art makes life meaningful. It inspires wonder, while challenging the limits of our vision and imagination."



Please click on the photo above to read more about the exhibit and the artist's descriptions.





We all enjoyed getting a close-up look at all the elements incorporated in his artwork.



A small section of the Madden Gallery still had some of the former exhibits when the space was called the Madden Museum of Art before the renovation.



John W. Jr and Marjorie Madden were avid art collectors and together amassed an impressive and diverse collection. The Maddens' collecting philosophy centered around the places they were inspired by in their travels and the relationships they developed with artists.

In January 2016, the University of Denver was pleased to accept the Madden Collection as a permanent addition to the University’s holdings. John W. Madden, Jr., developer of the Fiddler's Green campus in Greenwood Village, CO., donated a collection of 133 artworks valued at $10 million to the University of Denver.




Please click on the photo above to enlarge it to read more about John Madden.



There was also a wonderful tribute to his wife, Marjorie Madden, and their family history.


There was some "rare to us this winter" snow on the ground when we left the Madden Gallery this past December...


...but our spirits were warm with the 
Joy of all the beauty we just saw inside!


The pretty snowy mountain view from our daughter's office's outdoor parking lot.

We enjoyed our visit to the Madden Gallery and agreed that their mission to "make art a part of everyday life" has certainly been accomplished through their generosity!

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