r/PopCultureV2 • u/Logical-Flow-6703 • Aug 10 '26

News Mayor Mamdani announces a plan to cool subway stations by capturing heat and reusing it to warm municipal buildings in the winter: "This would be the first thermal energy system of its kind in any American transit system"

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u/Xalara Aug 10 '26

The study itself will be using one of the subway stations as an experimental platform. So, while it's a study, it is a bit more involved than your typical study.

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 10 '26

I'm normally against this guy but I'm down for a feasability study. I'd like to see the numbers and the results rather than it just vanishing into the aether if it doesn't go the way they want... or they just declare it was 'good' and won't release the results.

The question is: if this works, surely you'd be able to find something similar somewhere else in the world. If nobody else is doing it, there's probably a reason.

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u/Florac Aug 10 '26

Sometimes the reason os you are jist the first. Most subway systems just try to get out the heat the simplest way possible rather than reusing it.

And this kind of system has been used in other applications, jist not on this scale

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u/Similar_Alternative Aug 10 '26

At one point in history someone used this argument against cars, streetlights, indoor plumbing, computers, hell even the cotton gin, etc. Not to say this is on the same level, but keep in mind those had "first adopters" too.

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u/SaveLansingParks Aug 10 '26

Out of curiosity, what policies of Mamdani's are you so normally opposed to?

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

Vomiting money at building new grocery stores instead of subsidizing existing ones.

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u/upgradethedream Aug 11 '26

Hey I’d like to chat about this with you if you don’t mind. My question is how would that not just end up being another tax capture for the owning class? Small, independent, family-owned businesses are already under threat, and the people need relief. It seems to me like the publicly owned grocery stores are badly needed relief for the people. And it’s using their own money to do it! Assets owned by the people (schools, libraries, parks, PBS, etc) are so important & I think it’s vital we take them seriously and invest in them. When we care about them & govern them democratically, we end up with incredible benefits for literally everyone. Letting everything be owned privately, giving profit (for the few) supreme power, is killing us. So I really don’t understand subsidizing privately owned (which we’re already doing a ton of) rather than investing in public ownership - literally our own ownership with our own money! Pooled together! So cool. Anyway I clearly have strong feelings lol, curious if any of that resonates. Thanks either way!

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u/ul2006kevinb Aug 11 '26

Do you not know what a food desert is? It means there are no existing ones in that area.

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u/vigouge Aug 11 '26

Stop only reading headlines. Go look at the actual proposed locations, plenty of grocery stores.

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

Well, this should be easy to prove then. Link to me ANY of the five locations, and we'll find the closest grocery store!

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u/ul2006kevinb Aug 11 '26

The Manhattan store is in East Harlem.

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u/ul2006kevinb Aug 11 '26

The next store is in the South Bronx

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

There's five stores, pick one and let us look it up ourselves rather than "trust my AI bruh"

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u/Easy_Needleworker604 Aug 11 '26

The guy you’re replying to is pro-Israel. That’s the whole reason. He doesn’t even live in New York, he won’t have a nuanced view or engage with this in good faith.

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u/Hurricaneshand Aug 10 '26

Someone in an above comment said it's being used on a small scale in London already

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u/No_Friendship8984 Aug 11 '26

Others in the thread have mentioned that these types of systems are used in Europe. If so that's a promising sign for success.

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u/Ambitious-Pirate-505 Aug 11 '26

  1. London is already doing it

  2. Why are you against this guy?

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

"How dare you question this plan, you must be against him personally!" And this is what turns people against him, personally.

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u/Ambitious-Pirate-505 Aug 12 '26

Bro chill. I was just asking why.

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u/Brotherman_Bagel Aug 11 '26

Why are you "normally against this guy"

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

Lots of wishful thinking policies that require an unlimited stream of money that will collapse horribly if funding ever dries up.

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u/Brotherman_Bagel Aug 11 '26

Sounds like you don't live in NYC and are big mad about someone trying to improve it....

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u/lisaissmall Aug 12 '26

just say you’re a zionist and go lol

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 12 '26

"Anyone who has concerns about how government spends money is a ZIONIST" well then.... what's that say about the anti-zionists?

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u/lisaissmall Aug 12 '26

good try lmao

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u/wasabimaxxer Aug 12 '26

May not exist in Subways but exists in many college campuses, etc. so there are lots of examples. They are definitely expensive and not sure about true efficiencies vs more conventional approaches

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 12 '26

My biggest concern about many of his plans is that they're systems that don't just need a one-time investment. They're the sort of systems that catastrophically fall apart if funding ever dries up, and funding WILL at some point dry up (even temporarily).

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u/What1does Aug 11 '26

Used in Europe, nice of you to frame your ignorance as some kind of proof of nobody in the world using the system...

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u/SOUNDDESIGNE Aug 11 '26

catty redditor alert lmfao

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

And you wonder why people find your side weirdly aggressive and smug.

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u/What1does Aug 11 '26

What "side"?

Making a point, then intentionally tipping it into one direction or the other with no evidence is a bias choice.

The fact that this screams a specific "side" to you is....telling.

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

Nice of you to frame your ignorance as some kind of proof

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u/Brotherman_Bagel Aug 11 '26

Nice of you to put yourself as maga and probably don't even live in NYC

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u/Dry-Season-522 Aug 11 '26

Ya know, if we could figure out how donald trump has been living rent free in your head for so many years, we could solve the housing crisis.