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Canadian tech aims to cool hot subways in New York City
Underground subway stations are hot and getting hotter, drawing complaints from transit riders around the world. That includes those in Canadian cities such as Montreal, where a reporter recently measured the temperature as 38 C.
Now a Canadian company is testing an energy-efficient cooling solution in New York City’s subway system.
Toronto-based Cascara Energy and New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority are installing the radiant cooling system in ceiling arches in East Broadway station. The first units are expected to be running at the end of August and the pilot will continue until the end of 2027.
The system uses loops of chilled water-filled pipes to absorb heat and make passengers feel cooler as they pass underneath.
“The effect is similar to the experience of walking through the refrigerator aisle at a supermarket,” said Lucas Bejarno, a spokesperson for the MTA in an email.
Unlike traditional air conditioning, it doesn’t use any fans, making it more compact. It also promises to be easier to maintain and 25 to 35 per cent more efficient.
The hope is that the system won’t just keep passengers more comfortable but that the heat could be recovered and recycled for other uses, the MTA reported in its October 2025 Climate Resilience Roadmap.
Why subway systems are so hot
There are many sources of heat in a subway system, including people, electronics such as lighting and screens and train braking and air conditioning systems.
Robert Croghan, founder and CEO of Cascara Energy, said normally the walls of the subway can absorb a lot of that heat, but at some point they can’t take in any more. His system aims to catch new heat before it hits the walls as well as gradually cool the walls themselves over time to restore their ability to absorb more heat.
Meanwhile, the heat recovered by the system can be carried away and used elsewhere.
“You’re mining the heat,” he said.
A goal of the project is to see how much heat can be “mined” and available to heat water and buildings.
Croghan said that wouldn’t just displace burning fossil fuels for heat. It’s also far more efficient than drilling boreholes for geothermal heating, which also uses underground heat.
“There is waste heat everywhere,” he said. “We don’t need to be drilling for it.”
Heat is already recycled from the London Underground
The London Underground is already collecting waste heat from the Northern line tunnels of its network year-round in the British capital for its Bunhill 2 Energy Centre, located in the former City Road station. That, in turn, is one of the heat sources for a district heating network connected to thousands of homes, a school and two community centres. The system’s fan can be reversed in the summer to pump cool air into the tunnels.
Croghan said that’s a more conventional cooling system with high-velocity fans, so it uses more energy than his company’s passive radiant cooling technology. The MTA notes that such conventional systems also need more space for mechanical rooms and street-level cooling towers.
London and New York are especially notorious for their steamy subways, but could recovering heat from subway tunnels and stations also work in Canada?
“For sure. Absolutely,” Croghan said.
He hopes the New York pilot, which his company is mostly funding itself, will show the system works and get other transit systems interested. — Emily Chung
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Credit belongs to: www.cbc.ca
