“Steam Loops” Can Power Large Buildings With Clean Energy

A 106-mile network of underground pipes could hold the key to clean energy in New York City. 

As Tope Alake and Linda Poon explain in Bloomberg CityLab, the city’s subterranean pipes currently deliver roughly 15 billion pounds per year of 370-degree steam to some of the city’s buildings. 

The system, operated by Consolidated Edison Inc., serves large-scale clients such as the Empire State Building and the United Nations complex. “For now, Con Ed’s steam system is entirely focused on Manhattan, where the main steam pipes already exist. Expanding into other boroughs would require crossing a river, making it much more challenging — though not necessarily impossible for a company that owns small pieces of real estate in other boroughs.”

Now, new legislation and a focus on renewable energy could lead to an expansion of the steam system and allow buildings to decarbonize using their own boilers. 

While New York’s system operates on natural gas, “Many of the US’s other systems, sometimes called ‘steam loops,’ are also working to decarbonize. Vicinity Energy Inc., which operates systems in a dozen US cities, has committed to electrifying its entire portfolio by 2050 — including in the greater Boston area, where its steam pipe system delivers heat to some 70 million square-feet of building space.”