A few years ago, after the utility replaced an old gas meter at St. Peter's-San Pedro Episcopal Church, winter heating costs jumped from about $100 a month to $3,000, Ives said. That was with him keeping the thermostat low and wearing thick sweaters.

The shock sent Ives searching for a solution. What emerged is the "Heaven and Earth Project," an ambitious plan to install solar panels and a battery on the church roof — the "heaven" part — and a geothermal heating and cooling system underground — the "earth" part. The project, if realized, could become a model for retrofitting historic buildings across New England and could extend beyond the church to serve up to 20 neighboring properties.

The church, founded by Philip English, a man accused during the Salem Witch Trials who escaped and avoided charges, sits in the heart of Salem's historic district. English is believed to be buried somewhere beneath the building, along with many early colonists. The dark wooden box pews date to the original 1733 structure, which was expanded in 1833. The walls are uninsulated granite, the stained glass is cracked or unsealed in places, and the old gas boiler cannot keep up with the drafts.

"We need to find a way to adapt these structures to modern-day, green energy solutions and efficiency," Ives said. "We're making plans for another 300, the next 300, and so let's make sure we do it right."

The church serves a majority Hispanic congregation and neighborhoods with many low-income residents. The area is recognized by the state as an Environmental Justice Community, meaning it faces disproportionate risks from climate change and other environmental hazards. Ives sees reducing planet-warming emissions as a moral duty.

"I could choose to look the other way," he said, but "how can you?"

After the gas meter incident, Ives convened residents, nonprofit leaders and city officials to develop the project. The solar array and battery would provide emissions-free electricity and offset utility bills, and the church could serve as a refuge during blackouts or extreme weather. The geothermal system would use the constant 55-degree temperature underground to heat and cool the building efficiently.

Consultants have studied whether the system could connect to 20 other properties — affordable housing, museums, offices and retail space — forming a geothermal loop. Many of those buildings date to the 1800s and rely on natural gas or fuel oil. A shared loop would be more efficient than serving the church alone and could be expanded over time.

In 2024, Eversource installed a similar networked geothermal system serving 36 buildings in Framingham. That project is still in a testing phase and has received federal funding to double in size.

Salem has about 1,700 registered historic buildings and a climate action plan that prioritizes cutting emissions from buildings, the city's largest source of greenhouse gases. Neal Duffy, the city's sustainability and resilience director, said individual building electrification won't be enough to meet the plan's goals, so the block-scale approach could provide a critical boost.

"I just think otherwise we're never going to get where we need to be," Duffy said.

Mayor Dominick Pangallo recalled his first reaction to the idea: "It was exciting," he said, but "the first thought I had was, 'this is going to be incredibly complicated.'"

Geothermal projects are expensive. National Grid canceled a planned networked geothermal project in Lowell in 2025, citing high costs. In Salem, the Heaven and Earth team must raise $30 million to launch the loop. Installation would require drilling 450 holes, each hundreds of feet deep, and laying pipes. One potential site is the city's historic 8-acre common, which would be temporarily torn up and later restored. Some residents worry about disruption to daily life, events and tourism.

"It's by no means a done deal," Pangallo said, "but it's worth at least asking the question if that's the place we should be looking."

Another question is ownership. The Heaven and Earth team wants Salem residents to own the system, rather than a utility. Abigail Despres, a project manager, said the goal is for people to have "a relationship and an ownership of their own energy systems" so that energy is "a commodity that you have direct influence over."

There is little precedent for community-owned geothermal, said Zeyneb Magavi, executive director of the pro-thermal energy group HEET, which helped coordinate a feasibility study funded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. But she said geothermal is well-suited to older buildings, which often need extensive upgrades before switching to other climate-friendly heating systems.

"If you use the most efficient technology, it gives you the largest margin on your bill to cover the cost of those building retrofits," Magavi said. Geothermal also works well in spaces that may never be perfectly sealed, she added.

At St. Peter's-San Pedro, installing insulation will require opening floors, revealing old colonial graves. Church leaders say they plan to count the graves and determine who rests there, prioritizing respect for the dead.

Thomas Piñeros Shields, a worshipper and project collaborator, said that eventually "the technology of the building itself, the infrastructure conversations ... will sort of recede, and we'll have this space that is usable."

Ives said he is willing to move heaven and earth to make it happen.