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AP: Climate solution: Massachusetts town experiments with community heating and cooling
https://apnews.com/article/geothermal-ground-source-network-heat-pump-climate-emissions-8c4409240fe221e822c24f7d06900364Climate solution: Massachusetts town experiments with community heating and cooling
BY ISABELLA O’MALLEY
Updated 2:28 PM EDT, June 3, 2024
Jennifer and Eric Mauchan live in a Cape Cod-style house in Framingham, Massachusetts that they’ve been cooling with five air conditioners. In the summer, the electric bill for the 2,600-square-foot home can be $200.
In the winter, heating with natural gas is often more than $300 a month, even with the temperature set at 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius).
“My mom, when she was alive, wouldn’t come to our house in the wintertime,” because it was too cold, Eric Mauchan said.
But beginning Tuesday, their neighborhood will be part of a pilot climate solution that connects 37 homes and businesses with a highly-efficient, underground heating and cooling system. Even taking into account that several of the buildings will be switching from natural gas to electricity, people are expected to see their electric bills drop by 20% on average. It’s a model some experts say can be scaled up and replicated elsewhere.
…
BY ISABELLA O’MALLEY
Updated 2:28 PM EDT, June 3, 2024
Jennifer and Eric Mauchan live in a Cape Cod-style house in Framingham, Massachusetts that they’ve been cooling with five air conditioners. In the summer, the electric bill for the 2,600-square-foot home can be $200.
In the winter, heating with natural gas is often more than $300 a month, even with the temperature set at 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius).
“My mom, when she was alive, wouldn’t come to our house in the wintertime,” because it was too cold, Eric Mauchan said.
But beginning Tuesday, their neighborhood will be part of a pilot climate solution that connects 37 homes and businesses with a highly-efficient, underground heating and cooling system. Even taking into account that several of the buildings will be switching from natural gas to electricity, people are expected to see their electric bills drop by 20% on average. It’s a model some experts say can be scaled up and replicated elsewhere.
…