For fifty years, the residents of Carroll Tower, a public housing complex in Providence, Rhode Island, navigated the seasons with the blunt instruments of 1970s infrastructure: electric baseboard heaters and the occasional, self-installed window air conditioner. The 194-apartment building, completed in 1974, represents a common friction point in the American housing stock—structures built for a different climate era that are now inefficient, expensive to maintain, and increasingly uncomfortable.
A recent $1.25 million public-private initiative has transformed the tower into a test case for rapid decarbonization. Over just 12 days, workers installed 277 heat pumps from Gradient, a San Francisco-based climate tech startup. The project was notable not just for its scale, but for its lack of friction; the units were installed without the invasive drilling or extensive rewiring typically required for HVAC overhauls. The speed of the deployment suggests that the primary hurdle to retrofitting older buildings may be shifting from engineering complexity to logistical coordination.
The environmental and economic dividends are significant. Preliminary estimates suggest the upgrade will save 450,000 kilowatt-hours annually, cutting nearly $95,000 from the building’s energy bills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 219 tons—an impact equivalent to removing half a million miles of gasoline-powered driving.
As residential buildings account for roughly 20% of U.S. carbon emissions, the Providence project offers a scalable model for how aging public infrastructure can be modernized. By prioritizing non-invasive technology, cities may find a path to meet aggressive climate goals without displacing the vulnerable populations who rely on these vintage structures.
With reporting from Fast Company.
Source · Fast Company
