If I had gotten into trouble as a youngster growing up my Mom would always say, “You’re in hot water now”. I knew exactly what she meant from experience, and it usually resulted in a stern scolding and some unwanted consequence. 

However, in Boise, Idaho, being in hot water ends up being a very good thing. Why? Because it provides a climate friendly source of energy that serves the community by significantly lessening its dependence fossil fuel energy sources thereby greatly reducing the city’s carbon footprint. 

This all is possible because Idaho is a state filled with hundreds of hot springs. The city of Boise is able to utilize this naturally occurring hot water to create the largest municipally run geothermal system in our country.

Nearly 500 Boise businesses, government buildings and homes — as well as hospital and university buildings, City Hall and a Y.M.C.A. — are warmed by heat drawn directly from hot-water aquifers, below ground. The Idaho Statehouse, in Boise, is the only one in the United States to use geothermal heat. The heat even warms some sidewalks in the winter, to melt the snow, and the YMCA swimming pool.

This renewable, reliable and relatively free of pollution, geothermal heating is possible in Boise because of the geology in the area. Fault lines in the rock expose groundwater to hot rocks, heating water to around 170 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is pumped from wells in nearby foothills into a closed-loop network of pipes that reach into buildings, before going back to the aquifer to be heated again. Each building gains access to this geothermal heat as it is transferred to water in separate adjoining pipes, which distribute the heat throughout the building.

The water is pumped up from the aquifer and the heat is scavenged from the hot water and pumped right back down into the aquifer to be reheated again.

In 2024, city officials calculated that geothermal heat had resulted in 6,500 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the equivalent of removing 1,500 cars from the road each year. Much like Tallahassee, Florida that is using renewable solar energy to enhance its municipal energy use, Boise, Idaho is using a renewal resource that is prevalent in their geographical location.

Boiseans are very proud of their unique use of geothermal energy and host visitors from all over the world to see and experience the special advantages such a system provides, all while helping to mitigate climate change.

This information has been extracted from an article written by Cara Buckley for the New York Times “50 States – 50 Fixes” Series and can be accessed at this link (Fifty States/Fifty Fixes) to view this and other interesting approaches to mitigating climate disruption around our country.