--- title: Geothermal Cooling For New York’s Subways | daily.dev description: New York's subway system suffers from extreme heat buildup, with stations like Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 reaching 96°F in summer due to train motors, brakes, and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Geothermal Cooling For New York’s Subways | daily.dev og:description: New York's subway system suffers from extreme heat buildup, with stations like Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 reaching 96°F in summer due to train motors, brakes, and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/59hdPTZAO.png og:image:alt: Geothermal Cooling For New York’s Subways og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Geothermal Cooling For New York’s Subways **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary New York's subway system suffers from extreme heat buildup, with stations like Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 reaching 96°F in summer due to train motors, brakes, and air conditioning units all dumping heat into the enclosed tunnel network. Traditional air conditioning doesn't work well because subway tunnels are open, deep voids with many entrances. New York City and State have announced a study to apply a Thermal Energy Network (TEN) at the Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 and Chambers Street J/Z station complex, drilling boreholes hundreds of feet deep where temperatures stay around 55°F. Circulating fluid through pipes near the station and into the boreholes would pull heat away, and the warmed bedrock could later serve as a thermal battery to heat other buildings in winter. Similar geothermal cooling systems already exist in Europe, Canada, and a 153-well system serving a Coney Island condo built in 2019. The current effort is only a feasibility study. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is a thermal energy network and how would it cool a subway station? A thermal energy network moves heat from where it isn't wanted to where it can be used, via grids of boreholes drilled hundreds of feet deep where ground temperature stays around 55°F (12°C). Fluid circulated through pipes at the station absorbs heat, then flows into the boreholes to be chilled before returning to the station, repeating the cycle continuously. _Anyone tracking practical geothermal cooling projects can follow infrastructure engineering coverage on daily.dev._ ### Why is the New York subway so hot in the summer? Heat builds up from train motors, brakes, and even commuters, and air-conditioned trains make it worse by expelling heat into the tunnels while cooling their cabins. Because subway tunnels are open, deep voids with many entrances, conventional air conditioning has little local effect, unlike cooling a regular building. Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 station regularly reaches 96°F (35°C) in summer. _Engineers weighing unconventional cooling fixes can keep up with infrastructure stories like this on daily.dev._ ### Are geothermal borehole cooling systems already used anywhere besides New York? Yes, geothermal boreholes have been used for cooling across Europe and Canada for some time. A working example exists in Coney Island, where 153 geothermal wells provide comfort for a condo built in 2019, showing the underlying technology is proven even though scaling it to an entire subway system remains untested. _Readers comparing real-world geothermal deployments can track similar case studies on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Geothermal energy turns red hot](https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-energy-turns-red-hot-ooikjheeo) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How an overlooked geothermal plant got a second chance](https://daily.dev/posts/how-an-overlooked-geothermal-plant-got-a-second-chance-yn9bjcore) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Physics Of Keeping Thermal Power Stations Cool](https://daily.dev/posts/the-physics-of-keeping-thermal-power-stations-cool-mx206fep0) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A train-sized tunnel is now carrying electricity under South London](https://daily.dev/posts/a-train-sized-tunnel-is-now-carrying-electricity-under-south-london-gycjabc41) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Offshore Geothermal Energy Pilot Taps Seafloor Heat](https://daily.dev/posts/offshore-geothermal-energy-pilot-taps-seafloor-heat-pdpfupsb4) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/infrastructure) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Geothermal Cooling For New York’s Subways","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao"},"datePublished":"2026-09-29T14:20:44.976Z","dateModified":"2026-09-29T14:21:11.761Z","description":"New York's subway system suffers from extreme heat buildup, with stations like Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 reaching 96°F in summer due to train motors, brakes, and...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6a0d1b3b31366bbefd9365fcf0168053?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6a0d1b3b31366bbefd9365fcf0168053?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"infrastructure","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Geothermal Cooling For New York’s Subways"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/geothermal-cooling-for-new-york-s-subways-59hdptzao#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is a thermal energy network and how would it cool a subway station?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A thermal energy network moves heat from where it isn't wanted to where it can be used, via grids of boreholes drilled hundreds of feet deep where ground temperature stays around 55°F (12°C). Fluid circulated through pipes at the station absorbs heat, then flows into the boreholes to be chilled before returning to the station, repeating the cycle continuously. Anyone tracking practical geothermal cooling projects can follow infrastructure engineering coverage on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is the New York subway so hot in the summer?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Heat builds up from train motors, brakes, and even commuters, and air-conditioned trains make it worse by expelling heat into the tunnels while cooling their cabins. Because subway tunnels are open, deep voids with many entrances, conventional air conditioning has little local effect, unlike cooling a regular building. Brooklyn Bridge 4/5/6 station regularly reaches 96°F (35°C) in summer. Engineers weighing unconventional cooling fixes can keep up with infrastructure stories like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Are geothermal borehole cooling systems already used anywhere besides New York?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, geothermal boreholes have been used for cooling across Europe and Canada for some time. A working example exists in Coney Island, where 153 geothermal wells provide comfort for a condo built in 2019, showing the underlying technology is proven even though scaling it to an entire subway system remains untested. Readers comparing real-world geothermal deployments can track similar case studies on daily.dev."}}]} ```