A bill in Massachusetts would create a framework for a geothermal utility, with the aim of heating and cooling buildings cleanly and affordably.

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.

Supporters say this approach to climate-friendly heating and cooling — geothermal loops, serving entire neighborhoods, owned and operated by utilities — can deliver clean heat, save consumers money, and provide new business opportunities for natural gas companies in states trying to transition away from fossil fuels.

The idea has advanced in Massachusetts largely through the efforts of clean-heat nonprofit Home Energy Efficiency Team, or HEET, and supportive lawmakers and regulators. The country’s first law enabling these systems was passed in the state in 2021, and the Framingham pilot is the only such network currently up and running in the U.S. Construction is slated to begin on a second network in Massachusetts this summer.

However, as more states look for ways to transition away from natural gas for economic and environmental reasons, the idea is catching on fast: Today, 13 states have laws promoting thermal networks, and 11 utility companies nationwide are developing about 30 projects, according to a crowdsourced map created by the Building Decarbonization Coalition. New York and Colorado, especially, are instituting new laws and mandates to encourage the formation of pilot projects.

With momentum building, HEET and its allies contend that this new form of energy delivery requires a structural rethink. Lawmakers and regulators are currently considering a pair of measures that lay out guidelines for who owns the thermal energy beneath our feet, and how consumers should pay for it.

These proposals aim to seize this moment, when the rules of thermal energy delivery are not yet established, to write a playbook that prioritizes affordable service for consumers and good jobs for utility workers over corporate profits. In the face of volatile and rising natural gas prices, it is a chance to change fundamental assumptions about who should receive the benefits of an energy resource, said Zeyneb Magavi, executive director of HEET.

“This is the beginning of the creation of a new business model,” she said. ​“It’s a once-in-many-lifetimes opportunity to get to reimagine and redesign the energy system.”

Thermal energy for the common good

In March, the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy advanced a bill, sponsored by Rep. Steve Owens (D) and largely authored by HEET, that would establish the existence of a thermal commons. The ​“commons” is an economics concept that refers to resources that are shared among a community with no exclusive private ownership. Think sheep grazing on the town green in days of yore.

The bill would also create a commission that would hone that definition and answer key questions: Who can access the thermal energy under public lands? Are there places where drilling should be prohibited? Do a private landowner’s thermal rights extend to the edge of their property? The panel would, essentially, come up with a set of rules to make sure everyone knows whose geothermal sheep can graze where.

“This can be the basis for future legal thinking,” Magavi said.

Meanwhile Eversource, has proposed a new framework for setting rates for geothermal service, now awaiting approval from utility regulators.

Most utility rates are volumetric — that is, the more you use, the more you pay. But Eversource wants customers to instead pay a flat monthly fee based on the capacity of their heat pumps. A home with a three-ton heat pump, for example, would pay a fixed charge of $10 per month, plus another $14.95 per ton of capacity, for a monthly total of $54.85.

Running the heat or air conditioning more would still increase a customer’s electricity bill — heat pumps run on electricity — but the cost of the warm or cool air itself would remain stable regardless of usage. This model works because customers aren’t paying any fuel costs for the thermal energy being drawn from the ground, so heating more won’t mean more expense for the forthcoming geothermal utilities.

This is the first time state utility regulators have been asked to consider a rate structure for an entirely new utility service in maybe 120 years, said Eric Bosworth, who oversaw the development of the Framingham pilot in his former position at Eversource.

“It’s great for rate transparency,” he added. ​“It makes the energy calculation on what bills will be very straightforward.”

Scaling thermal networks

But before these systemic changes can take root, more thermal networks need to come online to demonstrate the potential widely, Bosworth said.

“We need more people putting more pipe into the ground, because that’s when it becomes visible and it becomes real,” he said.

To that end, HEET is dedicated to learning everything it can from each new project, to analyze how effective the networks are and to find ways to improve them. It founded the research initiative Learning From the Ground Up to collect data from the earliest projects. In Framingham, the organization threaded 14 of the 88 boreholes with fiber optic sensors that collect temperature data from the thermal exchanger in order to confirm and better understand the efficiency of the system.

Building public awareness and support will also be vital for widespread adoption. There needs to be thoughtful education and outreach to convince people that thermal systems can be as good as or better than what they’re used to, said Kristin George Bagdanov, associate director of research at the Building Decarbonization Coalition and the author of the newsletter ​“Cheaper Heat.” Some people might be worried about the consequences of a power outage, or concerned about cooking without a gas stove, she said. Some utilities promoting pilot projects have encountered residents who were sure that the whole thing must be a scam, because it promises so much, said Nicole Abene, the Building Decarbonization Coalition’s associate director for New York.

So far, thermal networks have had bipartisan appeal. The Trump administration retained tax credits for geothermal energy when it gutted incentives for other types of renewable energy, and Republican lawmakers have been supportive of the systems in many states. HEET has worked hard to keep the conversation focused on affordability, jobs, and energy independence, rather than solely on the environmental benefits.

“We have to actually stick to the inclusive language and narrative we’ve been using,” Magavi said. ​“The minute we have some of the powers that be step in and use partisan language we’re risking the whole system.”

An update was made on May 28, 2026, to include the name of Rep. Steve Owens, who sponsored the bill advanced by Massachusetts’ Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy.

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The startup is turning on a 200-battery project in South Dakota — and pioneering an electric utility rate that could help boost thermal energy storage more widely.

A giant energy-storage project in South Dakota will soon turn cheap wind energy into clean industrial steam for a neighboring biofuels facility.

The startup Antora Energy said it recently began booting up a 5-gigawatt-hour thermal energy storage system at Poet​’s ethanol-production plant near Big Stone City, close to the Minnesota border. With a fleet of more than 200 batteries, Antora’s project is expected to become the largest of its kind worldwide when it’s fully operating later this year.

San Jose, California–based Antora has likened its setup to an enormous toaster. Clean electricity runs through a large resistance heater to warm big blocks of solid carbon to extremely high temperatures for days on end. That heat can then be used to generate steam for industrial processes — which typically rely on fossil fuels — or to produce electricity on demand, including for power-hungry data centers.

Yet Antora’s project is notable for more than just its technology. The startup is also pioneering an electricity tariff, developed with the utility Otter Tail Power, that is designed to improve the bottom line of thermal energy systems and to ensure they benefit everyone on the grid. Experts say the new energy rate could be a model for the fledgling sector.

The installation itself ​“adds another proof point to the technology being used to help decarbonize industry,” said Melissa Hulting, director for industrial decarbonization at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). ​“But the distinguishing factor is the tariff.”

Antora is one of dozens of thermal energy startups that are using a variety of materials — such as crushed rocks, firebricks, and molten salt — to store renewable electricity and deliver low-carbon heat to factories that make fuels, chemicals, construction materials, and even beer. In the United States, industrial heat use accounts for roughly 12% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Thermal batteries by firms like Antora, Brenmiller Energy, Electrified Thermal Solutions, and Rondo Energy can already support temperatures at or above 750 degrees Celsius (1,380 degrees Fahrenheit) — hot enough to meet nearly 75% of all industrial heat demand in the United States, according to a 2023 report by The Brattle Group for C2ES and the Renewable Thermal Collaborative. Antora, for its part, says it can store heat up to around 2,400℃.

But many projects are still in the pilot and demonstration stages. Of the few large-scale commercial systems operating today, most are in Europe, where companies can more easily access wholesale electricity markets that ​“can help projects pencil out,” Hulting said.

In the U.S., by contrast, utility rates for large industrial customers are among the biggest barriers to reaching widespread deployment of thermal batteries. Antora’s flagship project offers a real-world solution that other utilities and companies could replicate across the country.

“There’s a really big potential here if we can get those rate structures right in the U.S.,” Hulting added.

Storing surplus renewables to make clean heat

Antora’s Big Stone City project will be roughly 1,000 times larger than its 5-megawatt-hour pilot system near Fresno, California.

It launched the smaller project in late 2023 at a Wellhead Electric facility. Months later, Antora raised $150 million from corporate and venture investors to ramp up thermal-battery production at its San Jose factory, which the company just expanded into a three-building manufacturing campus.

Justin Briggs, Antora’s chief operating officer and co-founder, said the sprawling South Dakota system took less than a year to build on an empty lot beside Poet’s facility. He declined to discuss costs for the 5-GWh system, but he noted that the Australian investment fund Grok Ventures provided the financing needed to bring the installation to life.

“We really wanted to show how fast this technology could be deployed at scale,” Briggs said.

Antora and Grok Ventures jointly own the system and will sell heat to Poet under a long-term offtake agreement. The batteries will pipe steam over the fence to the bioprocessing plant, which uses copious amounts of low-temperature heat to turn corn into ethanol. Right now, at least some of that steam comes from boilers inside the 475-MW coal power plant that Otter Tail operates next door.

The novel electricity rate is key to allowing Antora to deliver competitively priced clean heat.

Noah Long, Antora’s director of state and regulatory affairs, said the problem with traditional retail utility rates is that they’re like peanut butter: They spread the average costs of generating and distributing power across all customers, regardless of whether they use power during the busiest, costliest times of day or during off-peak hours.

But thermal energy systems are designed to be highly flexible. If a wind or solar farm is producing more electricity than the grid needs, the batteries can absorb electrons that might otherwise go to waste. In that way, they curb their reliance on the grid when electricity supplies are limited, which in turn limits strain on the system and avoids the need for expensive grid upgrades.

Existing rate structures don’t always reflect such nuances, so project developers don’t see savings from using cheap, clean power and can’t capitalize on their ability to help balance the grid. That can make it harder for the technology to compete with inexpensive steam from boilers fired by natural gas or coal.

To solve this, Antora and Otter Tail developed a voluntary ​“thermal market energy pricing rider,” which pairs the timing and volume of Antora’s electricity draw with periods of surplus local renewables production. Technically, the batteries are plugged into the regional energy system and can use grid power at any time. But the tariff disincentives this approach, including by applying penalties if customers go beyond their agreed-on service baseline, and by charging regular market pricing for any power drawn above and beyond that baseline, said Francesco Aimone, an industrial electrification senior fellow at C2ES.

Utility regulators have approved the tariff in the three states where Otter Tail operates: Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Farther west, in California, policymakers are considering a Senate bill that would likewise update electricity rates to help manufacturers switch to using electricity for industrial heat.

“This is a win-win, because the customer can save money, and the electricity that might otherwise have gone unused is now being used,” Stephanie Hoff, Otter Tail’s director of communications, said of the utility’s tariff. ​“It also enables a new technology that reduces the carbon-intensity of industrial processes that rely on steam or heat.”

Under the new arrangement, the two companies will actively exchange data about how much electricity Antora needs to recharge its batteries for the following day as well as Otter Tail’s estimated pricing, similar to how day-ahead trading works in wholesale electricity markets.

“It’s a kind of dance that they’re going to continue to do day in and day out to try to get a good outcome for everyone,” Aimone said. Antora is ​“taking the risk on market pricing to make sure that they can deliver heat to their customer at a certain rate.”

Hoff noted that if Otter Tail does need to upgrade its electric system to serve a large-load customer, the tariff requires that customer to pay those costs directly in order to avoid raising rates for other grid users. Antora, for example, said it worked with the utility to build a 34.5-kilovolt transmission line to connect the thermal storage system to the grid.

Aimone said the tariff’s emphasis on using existing grid assets and intermittent energy sources is particularly important. As the country moves (ever so slightly) toward electrifying industrial heat and other manufacturing processes, it’s crucial that the shift avoids overburdening the grid or making electricity even more expensive for everyone else.

“One thing we want to make sure as we’re talking about industrial electrification or load growth … is, What does it mean for affordability?” Aimone said. ​“Flexible loads are really important for making that happen.”

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With gas prices up and more affordable options hitting lots, used EVs are looking like a sweet deal. We offer some useful tips to help you make the best purchase.

A year ago, Crystal Bright was freaking out. The Charlotte, North Carolina–based interior designer had just separated from her partner and needed to figure out how to stay afloat financially.

She could have taken on more work, Bright said, but that would have meant spending less time with her son, who’s now 8 years old. So she reasoned, ​“Let me just save money instead of figure out how to make money.”

A used electric vehicle turned out to be the key to solving her financial woes.

Last May, she bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf for $3,000 outright. That let her cut her $400 monthly payment on her previous car and liberated her from the $200 a month she used to pay for gas. The lower maintenance cost of owning an EV has also put another $200 back in her pocket each month. With $800 total per month in savings, Bright has been able to move with her son from an apartment in which she didn’t feel safe to a ​“beautiful townhouse.”

Across the U.S., gasoline prices have spiked to $4.50 per gallon on average because of the war in the Middle East. But Bright is able to recharge mostly using the copious free public charging available locally, and she can top off at home with her 100-foot extension cord if she needs to. ​“I have no idea what gas costs, thank goodness,” she said.

More drivers want to be insulated like that. The market for used EVs is surging; their average cost of $35,895 is now competitive with that of used gas cars (average $34,799).

If you’re interested in buying a used EV for the financial savings — not to mention reduced air and climate pollution — here’s how to make sure you get one that’s right for you.

What to research

Figure out what range you actually need, based on how much you typically drive and how frequently you’ll charge, recommends Desiree Moore, program manager at Drive Clean Colorado, a state program that aims to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles.

On average, Americans are on the road less than 30 miles a day. But Moore often drives long distances for work, so she’s eyeing a newer Leaf or Ford Mach-E to get at least 200 miles to 300 miles on a single charge, she said. InsideEVs, U.S. News & World Report, and Recurrent, a company that aggregates data on vehicle battery health, are a few of the sources that list their top used EV picks, which will give you a sense of the best range for your buck.

Also get familiar with the discounts available in your area. While the Trump administration vaporized federal tax credits for new and used EVs, nonprofits Veloz and Rewiring America have tools to help you look up local incentives.

But the most important EV research might be what you do in person. ​“Drive as many as you possibly can, because there’s such a difference in driving style and acceleration and turning radius — all of the things that you would expect from any used car,” said Andrew Garberson, Recurrent’s head of growth and research.

What you save by switching to an EV

Potentially hundreds of dollars a year or more, depending on several factors, including your current car, how much you drive, shifting gas prices, and whether you can charge on the cheap, like at home with a discounted EV rate from your utility — or, less commonly, for free like Bright does. Filling up at home in 2026 can be like buying gas at $1.60 per gallon.

You can play around with different online tools to get a sense of the savings that come with switching to an EV. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Cost Calculator lets you compare the total cost of ownership for specific vehicle makes and models. And while the AFLEET TCO Calculator from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory doesn’t have that capability, it allows you to toggle the cost of electricity. (The Vehicle Cost Calculator auto-sets power prices based on your state, though you may be able to get a better rate with your utility.) Both tools let you input the current price of gas.

Here’s an example from giving the AFLEET tool a spin: Under the assumptions of driving 12,400 miles per year, $3.50-per-gallon gas, and Xcel Energy Colorado’s best time-of-use rate of about $0.08 per kilowatt-hour, the calculator estimated that over 10 years an EV would save more than $11,000 in fuel costs and more than $8,000 in maintenance.

Where to get a used EV

Beyond running an Internet search for ​“used EVs near me,” look to local dealers, many of which have upped their EV game. Bright scoped out listings on Carvana, and ultimately went with a car she found on Facebook.

You can also check out online marketplaces such as Edmunds and Cars.com. These platforms include Recurrent’s forecasts on vehicles’ remaining range, which are based on real-world driving data shared by more than 30,000 vehicle owners.

How to determine if a used EV’s battery is in good health

The heart of an EV is its battery. Info on its condition might be available in an online listing, as mentioned above.

But you can do a live check, too. When you turn the EV on, take a look at its current charge and estimated range and compare that with the predicted range on a full charge, Recurrent’s Garberson said. As you take it for a test drive, make sure the figures on the dash don’t nosedive.

Battery replacements, while rare, typically cost $5,000 to $16,000. So it’s worth taking the time to ask the dealer for relevant information. Drive Clean Colorado has a handy checklist of questions: ​“Has the battery ever been serviced or replaced?” ​“What’s the remaining battery warranty?” ​“Is the warranty transferable to a second owner?”

Be sure to ask for a copy of the battery’s health report, which includes a ​“State of Health” metric that clarifies loss of capacity. For example, a score of 95% means that if the original range was 300 miles, it’s now 285 miles.

Warranties usually cover the battery and drive train for at least eight years or 100,000 miles. Verify in the contract what’s covered for the car you’re eyeing.

Vehicles that are 2 years to 4 years old are an especially good bet, according to Ingrid Malmgren, senior policy director at EV advocacy nonprofit Plug In America. ​“Those are the vehicles that are going to be coming off of leases. They tend to be lower mileage [and] have lots of remaining life left in them.”

EVs can last 150,000 miles to more than 300,000 miles; and the batteries, losing on average about 2% of their original mileage annually, have a typical lifespan of about 13 years. And the technology keeps improving.

“Mileage has less of an impact than battery health on longevity,” Malmgren said. ​“So if you wouldn’t buy a gas car with 100,000 miles, an EV with good battery health still could have hundreds of thousands of miles left, because [it has] fewer moving parts.”

What to consider when it comes to charging

Check the EV charging port. Older vehicles might have a J1772 port, which is compatible only with Level 1 and Level 2 chargers, instead of a CCS or NACS port that can accommodate direct-current fast-charging, too. DC fast charging can be 10 times as quick as Level 2 charging.

If you’re planning to plug in at home, you might want to install a Level 2 charger before you drive the car off the lot. Some of the best-reviewed options retail for about $200 to $900. A 120-volt outlet will provide a trickle of about 2 miles to 5 miles of charge per hour, depending on the vehicle.

Each EV make and model will also have its own max charging speed, which could influence how you road-trip. An old Chevy Bolt that taps out at 50 kilowatts will take more than an hour to fully recharge even at the fastest charger, whereas the newer model could do that in less than 20 minutes.

A bright spot

Bright, whose Leaf gets a max of about 68 miles of range, would love to go farther. So now she’s saving up for her next EV: a 2025 Nissan Leaf with 149 miles on a full charge. Bright plans to shop used because it’s so much more affordable; she has seen prices for secondhand models around $18,000, deeply discounted from the roughly $30,000 sticker price of a new one.

Bright’s bank account steadily grew after she switched to a used EV. ​“I felt so much relief,” she said. ​“I recommend it for anybody [who’s] struggling.”

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