Climate change is hitting the headlines all over the world, and the environment is a major concern for all of us. We all need to think about the steps we can take to protect the world we live in. This means ensuring that we can preserve the precious resources of our planet for future generations.
Believe it or not, your swimming pool can be a significant part of this. Making the right pool choices can help to use less energy and less chemicals, so your pool can be far less harmful to the environment. This way, you can still enjoy all the benefits of having your own swimming pool in your backyard while taking important steps to protect the planet.
Here we take a look at eco swimming pools and some of the things you can do to ensure your own pool is as kind to the environment as possible.
How to create an eco pool
When choosing the technology to keep your pool running, you need to think about installing systems which will have the least impact on the natural world. Your pool requires energy to run and chemicals to keep it clean. You can make your pool environment more eco-friendly by choosing technologies which use the least amounts of energy and chemicals.
This has a number of benefits:
- It ensures your pool is using as few of the planet’s resources as possible.
- It creates a safer and healthier swimming environment for you and your family.
- It saves you money on your household bills.
Finding ways to make your pool more environmentally friendly is essential looking forward as we all need to do more to protect the climate and the planet. Here are some of the steps you can take to create an eco-friendly pool.
1. Solar pool heating
Solar pool heating is becoming more and more popular in Australia. We are fortunate in that many areas enjoy a warm climate and a lot of sunshine. So a solar pool heater is often all that is required to keep our pool water at a pleasant temperature for swimming. Solar heating is by far the most eco-friendly way of heating your swimming pool.
A solar pool heater uses a solar collector to harness the natural heat from the sun. The pool water is continuously channelled over the solar collector via a series of tubes. The water is then heated to a warmer temperature before it flows back into the pool.
As this process is happening constantly, it ensures your pool water is all heated to a consistent temperature. And the heat reaches every part of the pool so there are no “cold spots.”
The energy used by a solar pool heater is natural and clean, as almost all of it comes directly from the sun. Only the pump requires electricity to run, and it uses an extremely small amount – less than 1kw per hour. Even better, many solar pool heaters are now equipped with timers and temperature controls. That way, you can ensure no energy is wasted when you are not using the pool.
In addition to being the most environmentally friendly way to heat your pool water, a solar pool heater is also kind to your budget. It can save you significant amounts of money on your energy bills compared to heating your pool using electricity or gas.
You can have a solar heater installed, on average, for between $3,000 and $6,000. This could be one of the most important pool investments you can make. That’s because it cuts down dramatically on the amount of fossil fuels required to heat your pool. And this lowers your carbon footprint, saving you a lot of money over time.
2. LED pool lighting
Choosing the right lighting is an important factor in creating an eco pool. By far the best option is LED lighting because it uses far less energy than the older halogen bulbs. LED lamps use only six watts of power to produce the same amount of light as a 100-watt halogen bulb.
This is due to the high energy efficiency of LED lighting. All of the energy it uses is converted directly into light, unlike halogen bulbs. Halogen wastes a lot of energy by producing heat, so it takes far more energy to produce the same amount of light.
As a result, LED lighting is cleaner, more efficient and much more eco-friendly. It is also a lot cheaper to run, as LED lamps last a lot longer than halogen bulbs.
This has another positive impact for pool owners. LED lamps don’t need to be changed nearly as often as halogen bulbs. They cut down on the amount of time you need to spend maintaining your pool, as well as helping you do your bit for the planet!
In addition, LED lamps can easily be automated. There is no risk of wasting energy by accidentally leaving your pool lights on when you are not using the pool. You can have them on a timer or control them with your smartphone.
If you think you might have left the pool lights on, you can check and remedy this even when you are not at home. This ensures that it takes the minimum amount of energy to light your pool. And it helps to reduce your effects on the climate.
All modern swimming pools in Australia now come with LED lighting as standard. However, if you have an older pool which still uses halogen lighting, you can have it converted to LED by a qualified, professional electrician. This is definitely something worth doing in order to minimise the environmental impact of your pool. And it will save you money in the long run.
3. Pool self-cleaning system
The way you clean your swimming pool has a significant impact on the ecological consequences of your pool. This is because pool cleaning requires chemicals which can be harsh and damaging to the environment. This will also cause a negative effect on nature and wildlife in the surrounding area.
To make your pool environment more eco-friendly, you need to minimise the use of chemicals in your pool cleaning regime as much as possible. One of the best ways of doing this is to invest in a pool self-cleaning system. The Vantage in-floor self-cleaning system, exclusive to Compass Pools Australia, is a great example of this.
The Vantage system works through a series of nozzles which are embedded in the pool floor. When not in use, the nozzles lie flush with the floor of the pool so they do not impact on your swimming comfort at all.
When the system is turned on, the nozzles raise and jets of water upwards towards the surface of the pool. This cleans the pool from bottom to top instead of side to side like most pool water circulation systems. It also creates a far cleaner pool environment, as every area of the pool is cleaned instead of just the top third of the water.
As a result of this, algae and bacteria have no chance to grow in any area of the pool. This instantly makes your pool safer and healthier for you and your family to swim in. However, it also has a vastly positive impact on the natural environment. As the water is being circulated much more efficiently, the Vantage system requires less than half the chemicals which would usually be required to clean your pool using any other system. This creates a much more eco friendly pool.
The system can be timed so it is operational when the pool is not in use. You can have your pool cleaned overnight, and wake up to fresh, clean pool water. This is ideal for taking a refreshing dip at the start of the day.
In addition, the cleaning system switches off when the procedure is complete. That way, no energy is wasted in leaving the pool cleaning system operational when it is not needed.
The Vantage in-floor self-cleaning system is only available with Compass fibreglass pools, and it cannot be installed retrospectively. If you are planning a swimming pool and want it to be as environmentally friendly as possible, this is definitely an option which you should include.
4. Smart pool technology
More and more elements of our homes can be automated these days – and the same applies to your pool. Smart pool technology is helping Australian pool owners create more environmentally friendly pools.
Smart pool technology enables many of the features of your swimming pool to be automated, including your pool pump, chlorinator, and even your pool self-cleaning system. This means your pool water will automatically be circulated for long enough to be thoroughly clean and hygienic. And you won’t need to worry about using excess energy by leaving it on for too long.
Your pool will also check and manage its own chlorine levels, keeping the pH balance of the water constantly safe to swim in. In addition, your pool lighting and heating can be automated. Setting this up means you don’t waste energy by forgetting to switch off the pool lights or heating system when you are not using the pool.
You can bring all of these functions together by investing in a remote pool management system. This enables you to control all the functions of your pool from either an app on your smartphone or tablet, or via downloadable software for your PC.
The latest pool management systems can also be integrated with other smart technologies for the home, including Google Home and Amazon Echo. This is highly convenient, as it allows you to manage many of the functions of your home and pool from one place.
Another advantage of smart pool systems is that they equip your pool with all the very latest systems. These are designed to be more eco-friendly and energy efficient than older systems as they are intended to take your pool into the future. Even if you already have a pool which uses older technology, you can upgrade many of the functions of your pool to smart, greener versions relatively easily.
You might assume that smart pool technologies are expensive. However, as they are becoming more readily available in Australia, the prices of these systems are coming down all the time. Smart technology for your pool is definitely a worthwhile investment. In the long run, it saves you significant amounts of money on your energy bills, and ensures that your pool is as kind as possible to the environment.
Find out more about creating an eco pool
Eco swimming pools are set to become more and more popular. It is imperative that we all start thinking more about the impact we have on the climate and the environment.
We all want to reduce our energy usage and ensure that we are polluting the environment as little as possible. That’s why it is a good idea to think about making your pool environment more eco-friendly now, rather than leaving the future to chance.
At Compass Pools Australia, we have always prided ourselves on being at the forefront of the latest innovations in pool design and technology. Many of our systems have led the way in making swimming pools fit for the future, and eco pools are at the very heart of what we do.
We are always thinking of ways to make our pools kinder to the environment. And we want to help Australian pool owners create eco friendly pools of their own.