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Carbonear's Energy-Efficient Community Pool

Efficient community infrastructure can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs.

Carbonear's Energy-Efficient Community Pool

The Town of Carbonear operates a swimming pool that attracts over 35,000 visitors annually. It's one of only a few pools on the Avalon Peninsula that operates for the whole year. The pool underwent a major upgrade in 2011 to reduce heating costs, which was completed in 2012.

When constructed in 1974, ventilation was provided by a 100% outside air supply and exhaust, with no heat recovery in the process. Humid air from the pool was removed from the building to the outside and cold outside air was returned to the building. This created a large demand on the building's heating system, which was an oil-fired boiler.

The Town improved the energy efficiency of the pool by replacing the oil-fired boiler with a new electric boiler and implementing a pool dehumidification system that takes advantage of heat recovery. With this system, air from around the water and pool area is used to supply heat to other areas of the building.

The Town of Carbonear anticipates that these upgrades will reduce their annual heating costs by about $55,000 per year, while also reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by about 70 tonnes annually.