NORTHAMPTON — Several new expansive sustainable infrastructure projects could be coming to three of the city’s public schools, with the City Council set to vote on the orders to appropriate the funds Thursday night.
The projects, totaling more than $11.5 million, would aim at reducing carbon emissions at each of the buildings, in keeping the city’s goals to achieve carbon neutrality for all city operations by 2030. The vast majority of the proposed expense would go toward a proposed geothermal heating system at Northampton High School, the cost of which is approximately $11.16 million.
Ben Weil, the city’s Climate Action and Project Administration director, presented an outline of the three projects before the council and the School Committee last month. The committee unanimously voted to approve the projects on Nov. 13, while the council took a first reading of the financial orders one week later.
“This is really the most energy efficient and power efficient way to heat and cool buildings, period,” said Weil of the proposed geothermal system during the school committee meeting. “There is no other technology that’s better than this for this purpose, and NHS is in a really good position.”
A geothermal system works by installing pipes that run deep underground, where temperature remains at a constant level around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Water sent through the pipes either absorbs or discharges heat as it adjusts to the constant temperature at that depth, with heat pumps extracting either the cooling or the heat from the liquid and distributing it throughout the building.
In Northampton, Smith College has also started the process of a geothermal renovation of their campus. But such projects can be expensive — the Smith College project is estimated to cost more than $220 million, and another proposed project at Hopkins Academy in Hadley swelling in cost to $9.5 million.
To fund the geothermal system at NHS, the council will vote whether to appropriate $2 million from the city’s Climate Stabilization Fund, established by Sciarra’s administration in 2023 using money from the city’s undesignated free cash and currently containing more than $4 million. The remaining $9 million would be borrowed by the city’s treasurer with the approval of the mayor.
According to the presentation given by Weil, the borrowed funds would be split roughly even between long- and short-term bonds. The city would also be eligible for renewable energy credits under the state’s Massachusetts Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, as well as federal tax credits.
Weil told the council during its Nov. 20 meeting that now is the best time to invest in geothermal for the school, noting that the building’s current cooling system has already passed its end of life and that the boiler can be maintained for backup and during peak demand periods.
“We’re essentially on borrowed time, and it would be ideal to replace it in an orderly way at a time of our choosing than at a time of randomness,” Weil said. “There are big costs, but there are big incentives to get back a good portion of that cost.”
The other projects facing financial orders are a proposed rooftop solar array on top of Ryan Road Elementary School, and a solar-generating parking lot canopy for Jackson Street Elementary School. The Ryan Road project calls for an appropriation of $455,763 from the Climate Stabilization Fund, while the city would enter into a 25-year purchase agreement with the company Solect Energy Development to build the Jackson Street canopy.
At-large councilor Marissa Elkins thanked Weil for the presentation, agreeing that now was the most opportune time to invest.
“The ability to act on these incentives is crucial, especially now that we’re coming into a time where they may not be with us, or probably aren’t with us, much longer,” Elkins said.
Ward 7 councilor Rachel Maiore remarked the city had come a long way since she first joined the council, serving on the city’s Energy and Sustainability Commission.
“You would talk about geothermal, and frankly it sounded like something we wouldn’t see for like 20 years,” Maiore said. “So it’s pretty impressive that we’re here.”
The city will take a final vote on the financial orders during Thursday’s council meeting, set to begin at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers.