Community Geothermal: Planning and Design of a Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts

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These reports, plans, and drawings review the achievements of Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) and its partners to plan and design a network of interconnected ground-source heat pump systems, or geothermal network, in an area encompassing multiple environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods in the City of Framingham, MA. The materials provided in this dataset include, a) stakeholder and design best practices, b) study on optimal method to interconnect geothermal loops, c) guidelines for monitoring and metering, d) operations and maintenance plans, e) permitting guidelines and f) 10-day driller tutorial curriculum. These materials can guide the efficient and ethical design of future geothermal networks nationwide.

The capacity of the system is estimated at 217 tons and is designed to provide 100% of heating and cooling needs for the buildings connected to the loop. In this project, 80 boreholes are used as the main thermal resources, the distribution system (or loop) consists of 0.61 miles of an 8-inch single-pipe at ambient temperature, with the capacity to connect 44 buildings, including 13 apartment buildings from the Framingham Housing Authority, one transitional home, one school building and 29 single family homes. While Framingham already has a geothermal network loop that is currently in the commissioning stage, our proposed project is unique because it is the first utility-led expansion loop (2nd loop) project that will connect to an adjacent existing geothermal loop (1st loop) in a pre-existing neighborhood. Both the 1st and 2nd loops are being installed, owned and operated by Eversource Energy, the utility Deployment Partner.

Citation Formats

TY - DATA AB - These reports, plans, and drawings review the achievements of Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) and its partners to plan and design a network of interconnected ground-source heat pump systems, or geothermal network, in an area encompassing multiple environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods in the City of Framingham, MA. The materials provided in this dataset include, a) stakeholder and design best practices, b) study on optimal method to interconnect geothermal loops, c) guidelines for monitoring and metering, d) operations and maintenance plans, e) permitting guidelines and f) 10-day driller tutorial curriculum. These materials can guide the efficient and ethical design of future geothermal networks nationwide. The capacity of the system is estimated at 217 tons and is designed to provide 100% of heating and cooling needs for the buildings connected to the loop. In this project, 80 boreholes are used as the main thermal resources, the distribution system (or loop) consists of 0.61 miles of an 8-inch single-pipe at ambient temperature, with the capacity to connect 44 buildings, including 13 apartment buildings from the Framingham Housing Authority, one transitional home, one school building and 29 single family homes. While Framingham already has a geothermal network loop that is currently in the commissioning stage, our proposed project is unique because it is the first utility-led expansion loop (2nd loop) project that will connect to an adjacent existing geothermal loop (1st loop) in a pre-existing neighborhood. Both the 1st and 2nd loops are being installed, owned and operated by Eversource Energy, the utility Deployment Partner. AU - Varela Gutierrez, Isabel A2 - Magavi, Zeyneb A3 - Kleinginna, Mark A4 - Bosworth, Eric A5 - Kirk, Clare A6 - Watters, Grace A7 - Urlaub, Brian A8 - Oelze, Megan A9 - Luz, Shawn A10 - Taliep, Phaldie A11 - Paolini, James A12 - Bruno, Nikki DB - Geothermal Data Repository DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory DO - 10.15121/2448376 KW - geothermal KW - energy KW - heating KW - cooling KW - community KW - design KW - stakeholder KW - commGeo KW - HEET KW - environmental justice KW - ground source heat pump KW - GSHP KW - Framingham KW - Massachusetts KW - interconnected loops KW - expansion loop KW - monitoring KW - metering KW - operations KW - maintenance KW - permitting KW - plan KW - report LA - English DA - 2024/09/01 PY - 2024 PB - Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) T1 - Community Geothermal: Planning and Design of a Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts UR - https://doi.org/10.15121/2448376 ER -
Export Citation to RIS
Varela Gutierrez, Isabel, et al. Community Geothermal: Planning and Design of a Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts. Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), 1 September, 2024, Geothermal Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.15121/2448376.
Varela Gutierrez, I., Magavi, Z., Kleinginna, M., Bosworth, E., Kirk, C., Watters, G., Urlaub, B., Oelze, M., Luz, S., Taliep, P., Paolini, J., & Bruno, N. (2024). Community Geothermal: Planning and Design of a Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts. [Data set]. Geothermal Data Repository. Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET). https://doi.org/10.15121/2448376
Varela Gutierrez, Isabel, Zeyneb Magavi, Mark Kleinginna, Eric Bosworth, Clare Kirk, Grace Watters, Brian Urlaub, Megan Oelze, Shawn Luz, Phaldie Taliep, James Paolini, and Nikki Bruno. Community Geothermal: Planning and Design of a Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts. Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), September, 1, 2024. Distributed by Geothermal Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.15121/2448376
@misc{GDR_Dataset_1672, title = {Community Geothermal: Planning and Design of a Heating and Cooling System in Framingham, Massachusetts}, author = {Varela Gutierrez, Isabel and Magavi, Zeyneb and Kleinginna, Mark and Bosworth, Eric and Kirk, Clare and Watters, Grace and Urlaub, Brian and Oelze, Megan and Luz, Shawn and Taliep, Phaldie and Paolini, James and Bruno, Nikki}, abstractNote = {These reports, plans, and drawings review the achievements of Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) and its partners to plan and design a network of interconnected ground-source heat pump systems, or geothermal network, in an area encompassing multiple environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods in the City of Framingham, MA. The materials provided in this dataset include, a) stakeholder and design best practices, b) study on optimal method to interconnect geothermal loops, c) guidelines for monitoring and metering, d) operations and maintenance plans, e) permitting guidelines and f) 10-day driller tutorial curriculum. These materials can guide the efficient and ethical design of future geothermal networks nationwide.

The capacity of the system is estimated at 217 tons and is designed to provide 100% of heating and cooling needs for the buildings connected to the loop. In this project, 80 boreholes are used as the main thermal resources, the distribution system (or loop) consists of 0.61 miles of an 8-inch single-pipe at ambient temperature, with the capacity to connect 44 buildings, including 13 apartment buildings from the Framingham Housing Authority, one transitional home, one school building and 29 single family homes. While Framingham already has a geothermal network loop that is currently in the commissioning stage, our proposed project is unique because it is the first utility-led expansion loop (2nd loop) project that will connect to an adjacent existing geothermal loop (1st loop) in a pre-existing neighborhood. Both the 1st and 2nd loops are being installed, owned and operated by Eversource Energy, the utility Deployment Partner.
}, url = {https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1672}, year = {2024}, howpublished = {Geothermal Data Repository, Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), https://doi.org/10.15121/2448376}, note = {Accessed: 2025-04-22}, doi = {10.15121/2448376} }
https://dx.doi.org/10.15121/2448376

Details

Data from Sep 1, 2024

Last updated Oct 1, 2024

Submitted Sep 29, 2024

Organization

Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET)

Contact

Isabel Varela Gutierrez

281.687.6692

Authors

Isabel Varela Gutierrez

Home Energy Efficiency Team HEET

Zeyneb Magavi

Home Energy Efficiency Team HEET

Mark Kleinginna

Home Energy Efficiency Team HEET

Eric Bosworth

Eversource Energy

Clare Kirk

Eversource Energy

Grace Watters

Eversource Energy

Brian Urlaub

Salas O'Brien

Megan Oelze

Salas O'Brien

Shawn Luz

City of Framingham

Phaldie Taliep

City of Framingham

James Paolini

City of Framingham

Nikki Bruno

Eversource Energy

DOE Project Details

Project Name Building a utility-managed geothermal network in Framingham, Massachusetts and exploring options to integrate renewable energy elements

Project Lead Arlene Anderson

Project Number EE0010662

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