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Connecticut’s has an unprecedented opportunity to show what decarbonizing the building sector can look like. It is working on a plan to renovate the , an existing 3-mile underground heating and cooling loop in downtown 蜜聊直播 that serves 15 major buildings. This kind of thermal energy network makes a lot of sense, but there’s one big problem: the system is now powered by burning methane gas. It’s imperative that DAS chooses a solution for updating the Capitol Area System that relies on electricity, not gas.

The is a former co-generation power plant with a long history of polluting the air in 蜜聊直播. It no longer provides electricity to the grid but is still operating fossil fuel turbines to heat and cool state-owned and private buildings in the Capitol area. The state of Connecticut in 2022 purchased the aging facility, which requires extensive repair in order to continue serving the buildings along its 3-mile heating and cooling loop.

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There is overwhelming consensus that we must stop burning fossil fuels in order to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gov. Ned Lamont himself is an outspoken advocate for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing clean and renewable alternatives. Executive Order 21-3 specifically calls upon the Department of Administrative Services to retrofit existing fossil fuel-based heating and cooling systems at state buildings to systems capable of being operated without carbon emitting fuels. It also requires DAS to develop a plan and a budget to achieve zero-greenhouse gas emissions for all new construction and major renovations funded by the state beginning in 2024.

We pay a high cost by continuing to burn fossil fuels. The price of fracked gas itself is highly volatile. And the societal costs are unsustainable. Fossil fuel combustion is responsible for significant health care costs and untimely death. Connecticut’s unhealthy air is a result of pollution, and we have some of the highest asthma rates in the nation. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation found 蜜聊直播 as one of the most challenging places to live with asthma in the entire United States.

A part of the solution for decarbonizing CAS may be developing a geothermal network (also known as a thermal energy network). This approach involves linking together buildings with a shared thermal loop, drawing heat from the ground or some other thermal resource, and extracting that heat using ground source heat pumps. It is receiving more and more attention as a highly efficient way to electrify heating and cooling buildings, not one at a time, but district by district. Utility led pilot projects are underway in Massachusetts, New York, and other states, with systems also being installed on college campuses. Using a geothermal network is one way the CAS can stop burning fossil fuels, with the additional benefit of providing Connecticut the opportunity to gain experience and expertise in this emerging technology that can be applied elsewhere in the state.

Lamont and the Department of Administrative Services Must ensure that the Capitol Area System replacement aligns with the vision he laid out in Executive Order 21-3. We need Lamont to show Connecticut will lead by example and put us on a path to clean and renewable energy that protects our communities from the damaging impacts of fossil fuels.

Peter Millman is vice president, People’s Action for Clean Energy.