
Intro to the MIT Thermal Energy Networks Plan for Rapid, Cost-Effective Campus Decarbonization
Susan Murcott of MIT presents the MIT Thermal Energy Networks (MITTEN) plan, a proposal for decarbonizing the MIT campus using geothermal networks rather than piecemeal building retrofits. Part of the IAP 2025 course Geothermal Energy Networks: Transforming Our Thermal Energy System, taught with the nonprofit HEET, the talk walks through why thermal networks can cut carbon emissions faster and more cheaply than conventional electrification approaches, how shared boreholes and ambient loop piping move heat between buildings, and what a phased rollout across MIT's campus could look like. Murcott frames the plan against the practical constraints universities face: capital costs, construction disruption, and the need for results on a usable timeline. The lecture functions as a concise case study in applying district geothermal systems to a real institutional decarbonization problem, grounded in MIT's own facilities planning rather than abstract theory.