A Colorado neighborhood is the testing ground for the future of home energy

A start up may have found a way to quickly bring geothermal energy to new communities.

1 minute read

October 4, 2026, 5:00 AM PDT

By Zachary Whalen


A person lays down red geothermal pipes.

Because Dandelion is installing the devices in multiple new homes at once, the company doesn’t need to create custom plans for each house or do any retrofitting. | irin-k

A geothermal start up is using a housing development in Colorado to test a new way to bring geothermal energy to homes that “could transform home heating and cooling across the country,” Phil McKenna writes for Inside Climate News. 

The startup, called Dandelion, uses a lightweight rig to bring geothermal energy to new home developments before the foundation for the homes is laid. While geothermal energy projects usually cost over $10,000, Dandelion claims it can complete geothermal projects in new developments twice as fast at half the cost. Because the homes are new, the company doesn’t need to create custom plans for each house or do any retrofitting, and because they are close together, Dandelion can bring geothermal energy to “dozens of similar new homes at once,” McKenna reports.

“The end result is a highly efficient heating and cooling system that Dandelion says outcompetes air-source heat pumps and conventional gas heating systems,” Inside Climate News reports.

Saturday, September 26, 2026 in Inside Climate News

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