The MTA is looking into ways to cool down its notoriously sweltering underground subway stations as climate change leads to hotter summers, the agency announced on Thursday.
The authority put out a “request for information” soliciting proposals from companies and organizations on innovative methods to cool down subway platforms, particularly those that are not carbon intensive like traditional air conditioning and thus, don’t contribute more to the problem in the first place.
“More frequent heat waves require us to find cost-effective and energy-efficient solutions to improving climate control in our subway system,” said the MTA’s chief of construction, Jamie Torres-Springer. “This solicitation allows us to explore sustainable and innovative technologies that can be achieved feasibly within our complex stations and in conjunction with our ambitious State of Good Repair commitments.”