New York to Study Capturing 96F Subway Heat to Warm Buildings in Winter
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 26
New York to Study Capturing 96F Subway Heat to Warm Buildings in Winter
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 26
Summary
New York city and state officials will study whether heat from the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall and Chambers Street station complex can be captured, stored up to 600 feet underground and reused to warm City Hall and two courthouses in winter.
The proposed thermal energy network would run chilled liquid through pipes to pull heat from platforms, trimming station temperatures by a couple of degrees in one of the system’s “sweatiest” hubs, where summer averages reach 96F.
The plan targets a worsening public-health problem: activists recorded 101F platform temperatures and a 132F heat index at Union Square, while workers and commuters endure stations that can run 10F to 20F hotter than above ground.
Officials say the concept is technically feasible and could help modernize a 472-station system, but retrofitting New York’s aging subway would take billions of dollars and years as climate-driven heat keeps intensifying.