‘It’s going to be exciting’: Framingham site of first in the nation energy project

FRAMINGHAM, Mass — Massachusetts has an ambitious plan to clean up the environment.

The goal is to reduce carbon emissions by half by the end of the decade, and completely by 2050.

Getting there will require innovation, like the use of geothermal heating and cooling.

A first-of-its-kind project in the country is now underway in Framingham. An entire neighborhood is being converted over to this technology.

A large drill is set up in a parking lot boring holes 700 feet into the ground.

“Right now, we are constructing the first for a utility, a network geothermal system here in Framingham,” said Eric Bosworth, Manager of Clean Technologies for Eversource, the utility sponsoring this project.

Geothermal heating and cooling take advantage of the temperature below the Earth’s surface which is a constant 55 degrees.

In the summer, this technology pumps hot liquid into the ground to cool it and recirculate it in buildings equipped with heat pumps.

In the winter months, the water is brought up and helps heat buildings with less energy.

“All of the homes and buildings that will be on the loop are powered by ground source heat pumps, so if you’re putting clean electricity in, there are no emissions associated,” explained Bosworth.

“We’re expecting emissions for customers on the loop to drop somewhere in the neighborhood of about 60%, as the grid continues to get cleaner, that number will only go down.”

The loop in Framingham will include 37 buildings covering 140 customers. The buildings include public housing units, single-family homes, small stores, and even a fire station.

“Our homes, our buildings are 40% of our fossil fuel emissions here in Massachusetts so it’s a big deal,” said David Mendels, co-founder of Zero Carbon MA.

He says heat pumps are extremely efficient, especially when they’re part of a geothermal system.

He’s been monitoring the Framingham project.

“I think the reason these pilots are so valuable is they’re going to give us a better understanding of where’s the diminishing returns? Where’s the value? What kinds of neighborhoods with different kinds of buildings, different kinds of uses for heat and cooling are best suited for network geothermal?”

Bosworth says the changeover won’t require much from customers and thinks they’ll get some good news down the line.

“One of the things that we’re looking at with the pilot are the cost factors. In this case network geothermal tends to have a little bit of a higher upfront cost but, then it has lower operating costs for customers over time. . . ultimately our customer operating bills will be lower month to month.”

Eversource officials say Framingham fit the bill for this project because they were looking for a neighborhood that had a mix of buildings and is dense enough to make laying all the pipes worthwhile.

Bosworth said this kind of technology is less ideal in rural areas.

The goal is to have all the pipes in place underground by November and the system operating by next Spring.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

©2023 Cox Media Group