The Trump administration broadly opposes renewable energy. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill gutted green energy subsidies and the administration has been systematically cutting back on clean energy programs including essentially bringing American offshore wind energy development to a halt. Their overall policy position is that climate change is not a serious problem and that fossil fuels are the way to go. The Department of Energy has changed the name of the prestigious National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado to the National Laboratory of the Rockies.
The administration’s support for energy technology includes fossil fuels, nuclear power, biofuels, hydropower, and geothermal energy. For reasons that are not particularly clear, geothermal energy is still included and has avoided being a target of the attack on renewable energy. The Department of Energy has recently approved an $8.6 million grant that will allow the nation’s first utility-led geothermal heating and cooling network to double in size.
The network is located in Framingham, Massachusetts, a western suburb of greater Boston. The system, completed in 2024, provides heating and cooling to about 140 customers in Framingham. It taps low-temperature thermal energy from dozens of boreholes drilled several hundred feet below ground, where temperatures remain at a steady 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Pipes circulate water through the boreholes to each building and electric heat pumps provide additional heating or cooling as needed.
The project still needs to be approved by state legislators but the utility, Eversource, aims to start construction by the end of 2026.
