Characteristics of energy-efficient swimming facilities – A case study

Abstract

The European Union has introduced a directive with the aim to reduce primary energy production. With 40% of energy consumption connected to buildings there is a particular need of understanding the energy consumption profile and determine measures to achieve the agreed targets. Swimming facilities is a building category with particularly high energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to identify energy-efficient facilities and do an in-depth analysis to be able to determine their characteristics and further to describe how they achieve this low energy consumption. In order to find the most energy-efficient facilities, questionnaires were sent to all Norwegian swimming facilities. The results were screened and a follow up questionnaire, making a deeper analysis possible, was sent to the facilities with the lowest energy-use. The in-depth analysis showed that the facilities with the lowest energy consumption use heat exchangers and heat pumps to recover energy from the outgoing water and air. The energy is then used to warm up incoming air, pool water and tap water. However, it can be seen that even the best swimming facilities have room for improvement.