An apartment building right next to the promenade in Coney Island offers a heated outdoor pool, a cozy library and a sunny penthouse lounge with a view of the ocean and the Verazzano Narrows Bridge.
But the most remarkable element is hidden under the ground: 153 wells, deeper than the statue of freedom is high. It is part of a highly efficient, environmentally friendly geothermal heat pump system that warms up and cools down the 463 apartments of the new building on earth.
“What enables us to remove all gas -fired devices from the building,” said Anthony Tortora, Senior Vice President and director of LCOR, who developed 1515 Surf.
These systems – also referred to as soil source heat pumps – run with electricity and use the temperature of the earth, which is between 50 and 60 degrees all year round. In winter, the system extracts heat from the earth to heat the building (and its pool), and in summer the system sends the inner heat back into the ground to cool apartments and other rooms. The heat is transmitted by liquid that is worn by pipes.
Although the installation of geothermal heat pumps can be more expensive in advance and can be challenging to drill into the ground – especially in dense New York City, with small land – the technology gains popularity.
Promotes through financial incentives and technical support for the installation of the system's impact on the Federal Inflation Reduction Act, the state programs and the supply company and the local laws that concentrate on the covering of emissions of the planet by moving the buildings by fossil fuels, geothermal heating in New York City can be in advance.
“It is a turning point. It is becoming increasingly common,” said Kevin McDonald, an engineer for construction systems at Steven Winter Associates, who advises affordable housing developments. “If you are looking for simple, resilient and long -term solutions for electrification, this is.”
“It is a cheat code”
Several projects that rely on geothermal heat have been completed in the works or recently in all five districts of New York City, including on Brooklyn College, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan and PS 62 in Staten Island. Efforts are made to install geothermal systems in the Eastchester Gardens and Jackson Houses in the Bronx from Nycha to provide over 1,700 apartments in 17 buildings.
The soil source heat pumps differ from air sources heat pumps that use the outside air instead of the earth to cool or heat a home.
“In a way, it is a cheat code to chop the basic temperature in its favor,” said Jonathan Hernández, the director of geosciences at Brightcore Energy.
Between 2020 and 2022, CON ED installed and offered incentives for 183 floor source pumps in 2023 and 150 in 2023 and 150 in 2024 as well as an additional 198 in 2023 and 150 in 2024.
Not every building is a good candidate for soil source heat pumps, depending on the location and size of the property and the question of whether there is, for example, a pull or water tunnel nearby. But, noted Hernandez, the technology continues to develop. And the state changes its rules to enable deeper drilling, which could make it easier for minor lots to pursue geothermal energy.
Part of the movement in the direction of technology comes from stricter laws that are to move from fossil fuels and improve air quality. A gas ban in newly built buildings means that those under seven floors have had to be full electrical since 2024, and these seven floors and larger must be in July 2027. In addition, local laws are 97, which sets limits for the outbreaks of carbon reasons, some owners have prompted to consider more serious.
“It is something that we have been studying for a long time, and then we really bowed with the local law 97,” said Tortora.
He added: “I think it's the future.”
The construction of geothermal systems tends to be more expensive than a conventional, gas-powered HLK system ETWA 3% more, in the case of 1515 surfing on Coney Island-and can add the schedule for construction. However, the operation and maintenance of the system is cheaper and easier than for a boiler, experts said.
Tortora estimated that the geothermal system could reduce 60% carbon emissions compared to gas boilers and save tenants between 120 and 450 US dollars for electricity bills per year.
One of these tenants, Aidana Bekbatyr, moved to an apartment with a bedroom with her partner and seven -month -old baby in autumn. The 27 -year -old Bekbatyr said that the latest electricity bill for the family was 142 US dollars.
“Here is very comfortable for us,” she said. “We selected this building because it is new.”
The geothermal system at 1515 surf is the largest in a residential building in New York City – for the time being.
A development in GreenPoint for completion next year, 1 Java Street, is about twice the size of 1515, 834 apartments over two towers and 320 boreholes that are drilled into the ground for the ground source heat pumps.
The geothermal system was to build around 6% more expensive, according to Brooke Nicholson, the developer of Lendlease, the developer, a third party less energy than a typical all-electric building.
“It had a little more cost in advance. It took the drilling a little longer. But I would suspect that we could probably do faster with these new projects and with the things we have learned, and we could definitely make it cheaper next time,” she said. “We are very proud to have this big side to do it and get it up to running.”