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Utility-owed thermal energy networks are “potentially game-changing solutions” for dense urban neighborhoods, according to a recent article in District Energy (the magazine of IDEA, the International District Energy Association) that turns the spotlight on ConEd’s Manhattan UTEN pilot projects.

Highlighting lessons learned over the past year, the article “A New York utility-driven model in the urban quest for decarbonization,” was written by TENS.NYC co-founders: Ecosystem’s Adam Shelly and WSP’s Charlie Marino. They explain the context for these pathfinding pilots and discuss the challenges they identified and the strategies to overcome them.

While other UTEN pilots around New York State are based on geoexchange, the two Manhattan projects rely on heat recovery. One shares waste heat from Rockefeller Center with neighboring office buildings; the other, in Chelsea, shares waste heat from a data center with a nearby public housing complex.

“By leveraging innovative partnerships, business models, and engineering solutions, utility thermal energy networks can help reshape urban energy systems, creating cleaner, more efficient and connected cities,” the authors conclude.

The TENS Commandments

The TENS Commandments lay out the foundational principles for designing, building, and operating next-generation thermal energy networks in New York City. As we accelerate toward a decarbonized future, these commandments offer a clear and actionable framework to ensure that thermal energy networks deliver on their promise — maximizing efficiency, leveraging waste heat, strengthening communities, supporting the electric grid, and building resilient infrastructure that will serve generations to come.

  • Thermal Energy Networks must prioritize efficiency first, solutions with no regrets, that align with NYC’s Local Law 97 and the broader goals of reducing pollution, waste and future risk.

  • Leverage thermal diversity across buildings — mixing residential, commercial, and institutional loads — to reduce peak demand and improve year-round system performance.

  • Waste heat from buildings, data centers, industry, and wastewater must be captured and reused — not discarded or inefficiently electrified. Avoid unnecessary electrification when thermal energy is already available.

  • Don’t just replace fossil fuels — instead, reimagine heating and cooling with electrified, integrated solutions like geo-exchange, wastewater heat recovery, and ambient loop systems.

  • Design infrastructure that can grow with the city. Thermal energy networks should be modular, interoperable, and capable of linking new buildings and sources over time.

  • Ensure that the benefits of clean thermal energy — affordability, health, and resilience — flow to frontline communities and public-serving institutions. Networks must be open access to accommodate a diversity of market participants, thermal energy resources and customers.

  • Capture the full suite of financial benefits — tax credits, grid incentives, avoided fuel costs, demand response payments, and carbon savings — to make a solid business case.

  • Thermal networks must support — not strain — the electric grid. Integrate with demand management and thermal storage strategies to flatten electric peaks and enhance resilience.

  • Embrace vested contracting models that align financial interests among stakeholders, promoting shared success, transparency, and durable partnerships. 

  • Design thermal networks as 50–100-year infrastructure with flexibility for changing conditions. Plan holistically, tailor global best practices to NYC’s context, and continuously pilot, iterate, and scale.

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