Massachusetts has an ambitious plan to clean up the environment. The goal is to reduce carbon emissions by half by the end of the decade, and completely by 2050. Getting there will require innovation, like the use of geothermal heating and cooling.

Cities, towns, and individuals should explore geothermal heat, suggested Laurel Kayne, director of communications at HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team), a nonprofit that sees great promise in getting natural heat from the ground. Eversource is working on one such project in Framingham, while National Grid has a project in Lowell, she noted.

A geothermal energy project is underway in Framingham, which will be the first of its kind in the nation. The pilot program, operated by a gas utility, aims to create a geothermal energy network to service around 40 buildings, including low-income housing, elderly housing, a school building, and some commercial properties.

In Massachusetts, Buro Happold is continuing to work with HEET—the Home Energy Efficiency Team, a nonprofit climate solutions incubator—on development of district thermal energy systems and their feasibility across socioeconomic opportunities and challenges.

“You go down a few feet, 5 or 6 in Massachusetts, and you have a constant temperature of around 55 degrees. And that constant temperature is really a source of thermal energy that’s really efficient and reliable,” Zeyneb Magavi, co-executive director of the Home Energy Efficiency Team, said on Boston Public Radio.”

To improve understanding of the challenges and potential for future projects, HEET is leading a team of researchers to study and model the technology used in the geothermal system, funded by a $5 million grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and to be conducted independent of industry oversight.