Shaping Tomorrow’s Energy: Virtual 10-Week Program Highlights Geothermal Technology

Stony Brook’s Office for Research and Innovation kicked off a 10-week program on March 4 that will highlight geothermal energy.

“Geothermal from the Ground Up” is an interdisciplinary educational program that presents the policy, engineering, environmental, and economics surrounding geothermal energy, thermal energy networks, and ground-source heat pumps. More than 50 professionals from industry, academia, government, and utilities attended the first presentation. 

“By examining geothermal energy through policy, engineering, and economics, this series empowers professionals to navigate and advance the industry,” noted Kevin Gardner, Stony Brook’s vice president for Research and Innovation. “Stony Brook designed this program to bridge the gap between research and real-world application, giving attendees a comprehensive view of geothermal energy’s potential, shaping the future of clean energy solutions.”

“Geothermal is an energy source that has a multitude of workforce applications” added Derek O’Connor, workforce development manager in the Office for Research and Innovation. “In these 10 weeks, we hope to give attendees a primer on everything geothermal. On the technical side, we have hands-on training planned with utilities, NY-GEO, and IGSHPA for community college HVAC students seeking to become accredited installers of ground source heat pumps this summer.”

Content for the virtual series will be provided by industry experts including National Grid, NYSERDA (New York State Research and Development Authority), TRC Companies, Brightcore Energy, NY-GEO, and the IGSHPA (International Ground Source Heat Pump Association). Each week the program will feature different industry speakers giving presentations on key parts of the area with a goal of providing attendees with a well-rounded platform of the latest geothermal knowledge. Lesson one presented federal and state policy from the perspective of the utility National Grid.

Mike Richter

The program’s first installment featured Mike Richter, retired Stanley Cup-winning goalie for the New York Rangers, who is now a passionate advocate of geothermal energy. His company, Brightcore Energy, is one of the sponsors of the series as well as the company selected to place geothermal technology at Governors Island, future home of The New York Climate Exchange, a world-leading climate solutions center of which Stony Brook is the anchor institution.

“We’re thrilled to be part of this program,” said Richter, who is president and CEO of Brightcore. “This is something that we do every day. The whole idea is to bring introductory geothermal content to working engineers, designers, business developers, and others not familiar with it. And unfortunately, that is the case with most people.” 

Richter said he’s working to increase geothermal literacy in an effort to educate the public on the importance of it.

“I think we can all agree that we need to find some creative non-combustion, or at least low-greenhouse gas ways of hitting the built environment. We focus on both new builds and existing buildings because a huge portion of the greenhouse gasses come from the built environment.” 

In a dense urban setting like New York City, buildings can be responsible for up to 70 percent of greenhouse gases. Though geothermal technology has been around for decades, the market penetration in North America is only about one percent. 

“In Europe, where we get a lot of this cutting-edge technology, it’s closer to 20 percent, or even 25 percent in Northern Europe,” Richter said. “This is commercially proven, well-known in small areas, and extraordinarily efficient. My role at Brightcore is primarily sales, and the frustration because of this lack of literacy is profound.” 

To combat that, Richter’s goal is to help more people understand geothermal technology and how it can be leveraged. 

“The lack of information translates to perceived risk, and that perceived risk translates to inertia,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of people that say, ‘we don’t want it for the following reasons.’ Instead they say ‘I’m not sure I understand the technology.’ We need to show them what the financial and environmental rewards are.”

Richter described his own experience using geothermal energy. “I live in a 100-year old home,” he said. “I moved an old boiler to geothermal about a year ago. It modulates the temperatures well, it is extraordinarily quiet and it’s extremely efficient. That’s exactly what we’re trying to bring to both new builds and the retrofit market, and that’s what this program is all about. I’m thrilled to be part of, and I want to thank Stony Brook and the people behind this. You’re going to learn an awful lot in this series.”

National Grid offered a look at the wider energy landscape across New York state as it stands today, and what the organization’s future investments will look like, including offshore wind, renewable natural gas, geothermal, and more. 

“With the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the state has some pretty ambitious goals that we need to meet, and National Grid is committed to meeting those goals,” said Brian Sapp, regional director of external affairs at National Grid. “One of them is reducing greenhouse emissions by 40 percent by 2030, and by 85 percent by 2050. We hope to be 100 percent fossil-fuel-free by 2050, and that’s an uphill battle and a significant challenge as we move forward. Geothermal energy is one of the solutions that will help us achieve that goal.” 

The webinar also discussed the progress and challenges of the Utility Thermal Energy Networks (UTENS) Act, an initiative to promote the development of thermal energy networks throughout the state and to provide jobs to transitioning utility workers who have lost or are at risk of losing their employment, touching on workforce development, customer engagement, and the potential for integrating geothermal with existing utility systems. Future sessions will delve deeper into project specifics.