New York City is getting its first apartment building to be heated and cooled by its own geothermal plant.
Set to be New York’s largest, the system is expected to save some $7m a year in energy costs and prevent nearly 24 million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere over 20 years.
Located on Coney Island in Brooklyn, the 470,000-sq-foot “1515 Surf Ave” will have 463 apartments, 139 of them designated affordable.
Contractor LRC Construction topped the building out this week. It’s scheduled for completion early next year, its owner, the developer LCOR, told GCR.
To access the earth’s heat, the team bored 153 wells to a depth of 500 feet, interspersed among 621 50-foot-deep foundation piles.
The closed-loop system designed by energy firm Ecosave uses a district geothermal heat exchanger to provide warmth and coolness.
Electric water source heat pumps in every apartment provide hot water.
Ecosave said the building would consume 60% less energy compared to conventional HVAC systems in New York residential high-rises.
The project received $1.62m from New York State’s Community Heat Pump Pilot program in July 2021.
“1515 Surf proved that high-rise buildings can be built above geothermal well fields and, through its efficient full electrification and the usage of renewable green energy, we can run zero carbon buildings today,” said Ecosave chief executive Marcelo Rouco.
