Underground Thermal Energy Networks May Be About to Have Their Moment

These climate-friendly heating-and-cooling systems are drawing support from states, cities, utilities and developers

Stephanie Farinelli and her husband never thought they would buy their first home in a subdivision. Then they found Whisper Valley, an enclave nearly 20 miles outside downtown Austin, Texas.

All of the houses in Whisper Valley have solar panels, heat pumps and a geothermal borehole around 350 feet below ground. They are connected to a community wide geothermal grid that pulls heat from the ground to warm buildings in cold weather and pumps heat out of buildings and back to the ground to cool them in hot weather.

Read More: The Wall Street Journal