District energy systems — networks of underground pipes carrying steam or water among nearby buildings — have for decades heated and, in some cases, cooled, institutional campuses, military bases and densely built urban environments around the world.
These systems often use central cogeneration plants that burn fossil fuels or biomass to generate heat. But a new generation of district underground heating and cooling networks known as thermal energy networks is poised to break that mold in the U.S. as more cities experiment with low-carbon systems.
The U.S. Department of Energy gave such efforts a big leg up last year, awarding 11 communities a total of $13 million to design community-scale thermal energy networks. The DOE-funded proposals will draw heat energy from sources like municipal wastewater and the ground itself, rather than from combustion. One in Framingham, Massachusetts, hopes to connect to a networked geothermal system that since June has served a mix of municipal buildings, small businesses and one- to two-family homes.
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