A Boston Housing Authority property will soon be equipped with the city’s first networked geothermal heating system, replacing a gas boiler system with renewable energy.
Franklin Field Apartments in Dorchester was selected by National Grid for its Networked Geothermal Demonstration Program, the city announced Thursday.
Design will be begin this year. Construction on the project is expected to begin in 2025.
The upgrades also will provide residents of seven buildings containing 129 apartments with in-unit cooling for the first time. They’ll replace the window air conditioners that had to be purchased by tenants.
“Every Boston family deserves a home that is affordable, safe and healthy, and we know that Boston’s buildings in our older historic city account for a lot of how healthy and safe we are,” Mayor Michelle Wu said at a press conference.
“We can’t just rely on minor tweaks and adjustments here and there or steps that are going to be comfortable and convenient and take a long time,” Wu continued. “We need to take bold decisive action to update our energy infrastructure all across the city.”
The pilot program will be not just the first of its kind in Boston, but the second in Massachusetts. The first was completed by National Grid in Lowell last year, according to the company’s website.
Networked geothermal energy uses the ground temperature and an underground piping network to heat and cool buildings by bringing heat up from underground in the winter and transferring indoor heat to the ground for cooling in the summer.
Geothermal heat pumps are four times more efficient than standard electric resistance heating. And the widespread deployment of the systems throughout the country could result in $1 trillion in savings on electricity, reducing the wholesale price of electricity by up to 12%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
As part of the pilot program, National Grid will connect buildings seven through 13 at the complex, located on Ames Way, Ames Street and Stratton Street, with a horizontal distribution loop and a thermal bore field, as well as install a pumphouse to operate the network.
The city’s Housing Authority will be responsible for work within the buildings, including retrofits, electrical upgrades and replacements for appliances and heating equipment.
The city said construction will cause minimal disruption for residents, and will require no more than a few days’ temporary relocation for work to be done.
“This isn’t just an investment in the housing that keeps so many of our young people, our veterans, seniors, children and residents with disabilities in the communities that we love,” Wu said. “It’s also a huge opportunity for our workforce. We’ll be creating good paying green jobs that protect the health of our residents and ensure Boston is a livable city for generations to come.”
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Wu said the city has also received $1 million in federal funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to replace 80 gas stoves in Dorchester with electric ones, including 40 at Franklin Field and 40 at Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation’s Talbot Bernard Homes.
The city will work with the CDC to identify units to retrofit and train residents on how to use the new induction stoves, and will also partner with Boston University to study the impact on indoor air quality of the project.
“For many residents, new home appliances that make life better and healthier can be the starting point to decarbonization. This project will result in invaluable findings on air quality benefits, as well as a template for how we can scale up delivery of electrical upgrades and fossil fuel-free equipment for residents who live in affordable and public housing,” Oliver Sellers-Garcia, the director of Boston’s Green New Deal, said in a statement.
The project is the latest work toward meeting the city’s goal for the Boston Housing Authority to be fossil fuel-free by 2030.
