Clean geothermal energy to heat and cool West Woodlawn homes: ‘An example for the entire country.’

03/17/2025

You can heat homes with gas, propane, oil or electricity.

Or you can make use of the virtually endless supply of clean energy that lies right beneath your feet.

The South Side nonprofit Blacks in Green is pursuing the latter option, with a plan for a multibuilding geothermal system that will tap steady, year-round underground temperatures of about 55 degrees.

In step one of the project, workers will send plastic pipes 450 feet into the ground beneath Chicago alleys. The pipes, which circulate a fluid that absorbs and releases heat, will loop back to up to 69 buildings in a four-block area of West Woodlawn, powering heating and central air..

Nara Schoenberg March 6, 2025

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