New York’s Subway Heat Turned into Winter Warmth: The City’s First Transit Thermal Energy Network Pilot Turning platform heat into usable energy — what the Chambers Street and Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall pilot means for urban energy systems New York City has launched a study to design and test a Thermal Energy Network (TEN) that would capture excess heat from two of Lower Manhattan’s hottest subway stations and reuse it to heat nearby municipal buildings. The proposed pilot, centered on the Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall 4/5/6 complex and the Chambers Street J/Z station, is notable for being the first time TENs are being considered inside a U.S. transit system. The plan pairs radiant cooling on platforms with geothermal borehole storage under an abandoned center platform at Chambers Street, converting otherwise wasted heat into a supply that can be stored seasonally and delivered to surrounding municipal facilities during colder months. This initiative sits at the intersection of urban heat r...
First Gen Powers Robinsons Malls with 22 MW of Geothermal Energy: A Leap Towards Sustainable Retail in the Philippines By: Robert Buluma The Philippines is steadily advancing in its renewable energy journey, and a recent landmark deal underscores this commitment. On March 13, 2026, First Gen Corporation , a leading renewable energy company in the country, signed an agreement to supply 22 megawatts (MW) of geothermal electricity to Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) , one of the largest property and retail conglomerates in the Philippines. This deal will power key shopping malls in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, marking a significant step toward cleaner, more sustainable energy consumption in the commercial sector. The Scope of the Deal The agreement covers a total of eight malls and one supermarket , including some of the most prominent RLC properties in the Visayas and Mindanao: Robinsons Galleria Cebu Robinsons Fuente Cebu Robinsons Roxas Robinsons North Tacloban Robi...