Last month, utilities in New York state submitted plans for 13 pilot projects meant to replace fossil-gas pipelines with infrastructure that can power clean, carbon-free heat pumps.
These underground thermal networks range from dense midtown Manhattan commercial centers to low-income housing, and from neighborhoods in the Hudson Valley to the upstate town of Ithaca, N.Y.
But the projects, spurred by a 2022 state law that puts New York on the cutting edge of a decarbonization strategy now being explored by a growing number of states, share a common goal: to cut fossil fuels and carbon emissions out of the gas utility business, while still carving out a role for those utilities in the decades to come.
That work will still involve digging trenches, laying pipelines and installing equipment — the same kind of capital investments that earn gas utilities long and stable rates of return today. But instead of flammable and planet-warming gas, those pipes will carry water or other liquids that transfer heat from underground — or from other buildings and sources in the network — that can be used by heat pumps to keep buildings warm.
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