Geothermal networks are taking off across the U.S., with roughly 30 such projects in various stages in Massachusetts, Colorado, and elsewhere. These systems — which use electric heat pumps and thermal energy from underground to warm and cool buildings — are key to weaning communities off polluting fossil-fueled appliances and reining in home utility bills, supporters say. But the buildout faces a major roadblock: There just aren’t enough qualified workers to drill the thousands of boreholes needed for the anticipated networks.

When a neighborhood-scale geothermal network came online in Framingham, Massachusetts, two years ago, it was hailed as groundbreaking. The first-of-its-kind system, owned by the state’s largest utility, Eversource, delivers warm and cool air to some 140 customers through pipes much like the ones that used to carry natural gas to those homes and businesses. But instead of burning fossil fuels to generate warmth, the network draws on emissions-free thermal energy stored in the ground beneath the community. To deliver cool air, the system returns the heat back into the earth.

In 2022, Rev. Nathan Ives learned that the power bill for his church in Salem, Massachusetts, was jumping from $100 a month to $3,000. The utility provider, National Grid, had adjusted a possibly faulty meter, and Ives found himself stretched thin as he tried to keep the 19th-century space warm and lit. He knew he had to act and saw an opportunity to direct the St. Peter's-San Pedro Episcopal Church toward cheaper and cleaner energy sources than its current gas system, Inside Climate News reported.

SOUTH DEERFIELD — Residents are invited to hear the findings from a feasibility study exploring geothermal energy in South Deerfield during a Zoom presentation on Thursday, July 17.

A reader asks: “Can you explain how geothermal energy works and how it can be applied to housing? Is it ‘clean’ energy?” A rookery of new residents will be moving into Franklin Park Zoo next year. When that colony of African penguins arrives next spring, the exhibit that will house the temperate birds will be heated and cooled by the heat of the earth.

Maine is taking a significant step toward affordable, climate-friendly heating and cooling. According to Maine Public, the state legislature recently passed a bill that could pave the way for networked geothermal systems across the state.