Sustainability Forum: Natural Gas to the GeoGrid, a Zero Emissions Transition Plan

The GeoGrid is a networked ground source heat pump system that can be installed by gas utilities in the right of way of the street. More efficient than air source heat pumps, it channels the power and finances of gas utilities toward building electrification. Installations and feasibility studies are starting in states across the country, including 6 installations in Massachusetts. HEET, a nonprofit climate-solutions incubator, invented the GeoGrid. Its co-executive directors will discuss the research, installations and how you can accelerate the transition.

David Oliver, Co-Executive Director

David is a mechanical engineer who specializes in product architecture, design strategy, and design processes to make the most of the opportunities presented by a design challenge. David has worked for twenty years as a Principal at the research and product development firm known as Cusp Development. He also founded the company From Concentrate, which commercializes products that are developed in-house at Cusp. In general, David is interested in helping companies and organizations make well-executed engineering and design a core element of their institutions.

Audrey Schulman, Co-Executive Director

Schulman co-founded HEET and has led it since its start in 2008, creating its innovative science-based orientation in the fields of energy efficiency, solar and gas leaks. A lover of maps, she used utility-reported data to create HEET’s public zoomable natural gas leak maps (the first in the country). Through her co-leadership of the FixOurPipes.org study, she helped municipalities coordinate with utilities to find solutions to fix gas leaks faster and at less expense. She started the Large Volume Leak Study in an effort to help gas utilities identify super-emitting gas leaks and repair them. Together with Zeyneb, she has developed HEET’s innovative GeoGrid solution to decarbonize gas heating and is guiding its adoption in Massachusetts and other states. Schulman is also the author of six novels, which have been translated into 12 languages and reviewed by The New Yorker, The Economist, and CNN.

This is a free event.