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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
In the swim – a perfect fit for solar thermal
3/5/2023
6 min read
Feature
Heated swimming pools, many of which are publicly owned, use lots of energy. With fossil fuel prices going ever higher, it’s time to replace gas and oil with solar thermal technology, which is well-suited to the application, writes Blaise Kelly.
Swimming pools have always been expensive facilities to run. Now, in 2023, after more than a decade of crippling austerity, COVID-19 closures and now the energy crisis, swimming pools are facing an unprecedented challenge. Since 2010, England has lost almost 400 pools and Swim England estimates a further 2,000 could disappear by 2030.
In the UK, swimming pool leisure centre assets account for between 10% and 40% of direct carbon emissions from local authorities. In the period 2017–2019, five of Bristol’s main pools – Hengrove, Easton, Henbury, Horfield and Bristol South – consumed a combined average of 13 GWh/y in gas and 4 GWh/y of electricity. If these were gyms or football pitches it is likely the electricity would be the main outlay, but heating water, with its huge specific heat capacity, consumes a lot of energy.
There is no doubt that leisure facilities, and particularly swimming pools, are essential and valuable facilities that are worth the money, but this does not mean the money is there. What is needed is for facilities to be sustainable.