MTA is exploring tech that will store heat from subway platforms for buildings in the winter

Stepping onto a subway platform during the summer can feel like you’re walking into an oven. But what if there was a way to cool subway platforms AND save that underground heat to heat up buildings in the winter? 

New York City and state officials are exploring technology that will use thermal energy to suck heat out of Brooklyn Bridge City Hall and Chambers Street subway stations and store it in nearby buildings during the winter season.

Alexis Abramson, the dean of Columbia University's Climate School, researches thermal transport and building energy efficiency. She joins WNYC's Sean Carlson to talk more about how this project would actually work.