Energypost.eu
Summary
For the first time in the U.S. a utility is piloting a community geothermal project to heat and cool 40 buildings and cut customers’ bills. Success will lead to scale up and replication, explains Adele Peters writing for the World Economic Forum. The case for community geothermal is very strong. Though geothermal’s up-front costs of installing pipes deep underground are high, running costs are low. The pilot, in Framingham (Massachusetts), will serve the kind of customers that could never afford geothermal individually, including low-income apartments, single-family homes, and small businesses. Success will also reduce the need for installing and maintaining expensive gas pipes that must see declining use to meet 2050 decarbonisation targets, saving billions. Peters says the word is spreading fast: New York passed a law in 2022 that required major utilities to propose similar pilot projects and 17 are already in the planning stage.
- A pilot project in Framingham, Massachusetts, is using geothermal energy to heat and cool 40 buildings, including low-income apartments, single-family homes, small businesses and a fire station.
- The project is the first of its kind in the US and is being run by Eversource, the local gas utility.
- The goal of the project is to demonstrate that geothermal energy is a scalable and viable option for decarbonizing the heating and cooling sector
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