I’m always interested in new applications of sustainable technologies. It’s partly because I’m interested in innovations themselves — how to start up, how to make a startup successful, in fact, even the definition of success for a startup. Not all startup ideas need to wind up as IPOs or free-standing private firms. Nor do they always need to make a lot of money for a few.
In the article below we see a partnership that makes geothermal energy a reality for a whole complex of residents. It’s on a rather small scale, but reduces costs greatly for the families that live in the development.
The essence is to create underground sources near the project and put in the plumbing so that every home can have heating and cooling through the shared geothermal system. It’s installed in advance of occupancy, so the process becomes part of the construction of the site.
It’s taking place in Vermont. That’s a state with a serious heating problem in the winter. And like many US places, summers can occasionally require air conditioning.
Here, geothermal thermal developer Dandelion Energy and utility Vermont Gas Services (VGS) are teaming up to deliver geothermal capacity through newly drilled infrastructure to serve the Riggs Meadow addition planned in Hinesburg, which will include 44 townhomes and apartments designed for low- and moderate-income renters and owners.
The business model is somewhat like the “energy-as-service” provided by microgrid developers, in which they bear the upfront and long-term operations cost and responsibilities of the geothermal infrastructure and energy delivery. Each building will have its own geothermal heat pump and ground loop exchanger. The heat pumps will be electric, not gas powered.
Vermont Gas Services CEO Neale F. Lunderville said the utility will finance, own and maintain the underground geothermal infrastructure as a utility asset. Customers will simply pay for the service monthly.
It’s a novel approach for the troubled area of low-to-middle income apartments, which are often built with minimum investment because rents will be capped relative to more luxury accommodations.
This is a simple plan using well-understood technology, and should be a guidepost for others to follow.
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor, Oct. 13, 2026
