A new program in Framingham, Massachusetts is leading the transition from gas to geothermal heating and cooling.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

This episode, we’re taking a look at one neighborhood in Framingham, Massachusetts. This summer, residents had their furnaces and ACs replaced with a network of pipes that get energy from the heat of the earth. The network is the first of its kind in the country.

We had Cameron Leo and Christine Okulo from our Possibly Team look into this.

Cameron Leo: Hi, Megan!

Christine Okulo: Hello!

Megan Hall: So why are the folks in Framingham using heat from the earth?

Cameron Leo: Well, In the Northeast, most households still use gas to heat their homes.

Christine Okulo: Which is a problem because warming our houses that way creates a lot of greenhouse gases. If you’re like the average American, about a third of your greenhouse gas emissions come from heating your home.

Cameron Leo: Plus, in Massachusetts, almost 20% of gas pipes are leak-prone. And when these pipes leak, they release methane, a powerful gas which is both a safety risk, and a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Christine Okulo: A report in 2016 estimated that those leaks were collectively erasing all of the climate gains promised by the state’s energy efficiency programs.

Cameron Leo: New repair and replacement laws have helped—but since new leaks crop up all the time, experts say it’s impossible to ever finish fixing them.

Christine Okulo: Instead of spending billions playing catch up, some people thought we should invest in an entirely new energy system.

Megan Hall: So that’s what’s happening in Framingham?

Cameron Leo: Exactly. One neighborhood there made the switch over to ground-source heat pumps, which use electricity to pump water from a couple-hundred feet below-ground, where the temperature is a steady 55ºF all year.

Christine Okulo: This system warms buildings up during the winter, and cools them off during the summer—so residents can get rid of their gas pipes and air conditioners all in one go.

Megan Hall: I feel like heat pumps have been around for a while.

Cameron Leo: That’s true, but what makes the Framingham case exciting is that the system was paid for by a gas utility, which connected all the pumps together to form what they call a “thermal network.”

Megan Hall: So why would a gas utility company pay for its customers to switch to a gas-free service?

Cameron Leo: We were wondering the same thing, so we spoke with Eric Bosworth from Eversource, the gas company that operates the network in Framingham.

Eric Bosworth: The states that we operate in are moving towards decarbonized options. And so as part of that, the gas business takes a look and says, how can we decarbonize? Network geothermal was interesting because it is ultimately just pipes in the ground, very similar to what we do every day in the gas business.

Cameron Leo: In fact, thermal networks use the same exact kind of pipes as gas lines—so workers already have the skills to install them.

Megan Hall: That’s interesting. But what about residents? Aside from creating less greenhouse gases, what’s in it for them?

Cameron Leo: In the long run, there’s no doubt that thermal pumps save customers money.

Christine Okulo: They use less electricity to heat and cool your house than any other system. Especially when you’re dealing with a network rather than individual pumps.

Megan Hall: What about the cost of getting all of this new equipment?

Christine Okulo: It’s true. It is expensive to get the heat pumps installed. In some cases. It can take up to a decade to pay off the price of the equipment and installation. That’s kept a lot of people from making the switch.

Cameron Leo: Which is another reason why what happened in Framingham is a big deal. Since the utility company covered the cost of all the installation, residents started benefiting from lower utility bills as soon as the network was installed.

Megan Hall: How much are they saving?

Cameron Leo: Residents are expected to see their utility bills go down by up to 20%.

Christine Okulo: And their greenhouse gas emissions slashed by 60%.

Megan Hall: So, is this how all of us should be heating and cooling our homes?

Christine Okulo: Well, this is a pilot project, and there are more coming in other states- which might use slightly different techniques.

Cameron Leo: Different utilities will also have different cost models. So we’ll see which approaches and cost models are most effective. But either way, heating our homes with renewable energy is a key step towards a fossil fuel-free future.

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Cameron and Christine

That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at askpossibly.org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or Bluesky at  “askpossibly”

Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

The post Are geothermal networks the future of heating and cooling? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

The post Are geothermal networks the future of heating and cooling? appeared first on Possibly.

A new program at the Boston Medical Center says it prescribes solar panels to patients. But we wondered, what does that really mean?

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who works at the Boston Medical Center. She’s running a program that prescribes solar panels to patients.

I wanted to know more, so I sent Nat Hardy and Kolya Shields from our Possibly Team to Boston to check it out.

Nat Hardy: Hi, Megan!

Kolya Shields: Hello!

Megan Hall: So what’d you learn? Can a doctor really prescribe me solar panels?

Nat Hardy: Well yes and no! So the program is really exciting, but a doctor isn’t exactly going to write you a prescription that you can take to the pharmacy to pick up a solar panel.

Kolya Shields: What’s really happening, is they’re using solar panels to generate electricity, and that electricity helps cover the utility bills for their patients.

Nat Hardy: The program is called the Clean Power Prescription. To learn more, we talked to your friend- Doctor Anna Goldman. She’s a physician and the medical director of climate and sustainability at the Boston Medical Center.

Anna Goldman: We are under a solar canopy. So we can see the photovoltaic cells right above our heads and the sunlight streaming through.

Nat Hardy: The solar panels that we’re standing under are at the Boston Medical Center’s administration building. They generate enough energy to power about 50 homes around Boston.

Kolya Shields: The electricity made by these panels goes right into the local energy grid.

Anna Goldman The utility credits us for that energy on our account, and then we transfer the energy credits from our account to our patients accounts.

Nat Hardy: Those credits go to some of Boston Medical Center’s highest risk patients, people who don’t just need medical support, but also help with housing, mental health and other services.

Megan Hall: Okay so when people get that money, they use it to pay their electric bills?

Kolya Shields: Yeah Exactly! Anna says Boston Medical Center is the first healthcare system in the country to try something like this.

Megan Hall: Why is a medical center paying for its client’s energy bills?

Kolya Shields: Well, there are real health impacts if you can’t pay for your electricity!

Anna Goldman: If your utility is shut off you lose all the food in your fridge and you can’t keep fresh food in your home. And then there’s all kinds of medical devices that run on electricity.

Nat Hardy: Think about things like ventilators or oxygen concentrators…

Kolya Shields: Or even air conditioners! They help people stay healthy during the summer, especially older patients and anyone with a chronic condition.

Megan Hall: Yeah I guess that is pretty important! Are there any programs that help people keep their power on?

Nat Hardy: There are! Most states actually have programs that let doctors, like Anna, write letters to utility companies that prevent them from shutting off a patient’s power.

Anna Goldman: And I wrote one yesterday, actually, I write them frequently.

Nat Hardy: But the problem is, at least in Massachusetts, you still accumulate debt to the utility when this happens. Anna says a program that actually helps people pay their bills, can do more to address utility insecurity.

Kolya Shields: But she also says that it’s a bigger problem than just paying bills. Supporting patients financially also improves their health.

Anna Goldman: There’s a really straight through line between wealth and economic security and health outcomes. So if you’re spending so much of your money on a really basic need, like utilities, you don’t have funds to cover other really basic things.

Megan Hall:  So how many patients are actually using this program?

Nat Hardy: Yeah, so right now the program is just starting – Their goal is to enroll around 80 patients and they’ll all receive an average of $50 a month off their utilities.

Kolya Shields: But Anna’s already getting calls from other healthcare systems who want to try something similar.

Anna Goldman: There’s a lot of interest, because I think people see that this program addresses both environmental justice and economic justice and energy justice.

Nat Hardy: The program is partially paid for with a new tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act, designed to fund solar projects that serve low-income communities.

Kolya Shields: Anna hopes  that the program will continue to expand so it can help more patients.

Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Nat and Kolya!

That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to askpossibly.org Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at  “askpossibly”

Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.

The post Can a doctor give you a prescription for solar panels? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.

The post Can a doctor give you a prescription for solar panels? appeared first on Possibly.