Key figures showing how swimming pools evolved to be energy efficient

Many people think that pools cannot be eco-friendly – but they’re wrong, as FPP statistics show. Discover the key figures you need to know about low energy swimming pools!

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Energy efficient swimming pools do exist – but the public needs awareness!

More than ever before, people want to protect the environment and in France nature-loving political movements are increasingly popular, as the unprecedented victory of the Greens in local elections in many big cities last June proves.

It is quite understandable why interest in swimming pools is booming even if some potential customers query the environmental impact – and can now get very satisfactory answers from pool builders. Choosing between private owners looking to palliate the impact of increasingly frequent heat waves and others who think pools are a waste of water as droughts threaten the solution is very simple and quantifiable: all family swimming pools in France account for just 0.1% of national water consumption!

The pool sector has made huge progress very rapidly to ensure environmental protection with no loss of personal comfort. And as a further inducement, the key figures for water and energy consumption can convince the most skeptical about energy efficiency in pools!

Swimming pools are getting smaller…

In 1980, pools measured on average 12 x 6 meters and were 1.8 meters deep. Now they are just 8 x 4 meters and only 1.4 meters deep (1). And they get smaller all the time!

The trend to plunge (lap) pools is growing fast. The surface area of these pools is only around 10sq.m. Ideal for small gardens and yards, they save on costs and are more environmentally friendly with no loss of comfort due to innovative wave generation and counter-current systems.

… and so they use less water

Smaller pools use less water. In 1980, it took approximately 130 cubic meters of water to fill a traditional swimming pool. A pool built in 2015 water needed just 45 cubic meters. Over this same period, yearly pool water consumption fell from 43 cubic meters to 15 cubic meters. Real progress! Family pools in France now only account for 0.1% of total water consumption.

Less water also means fewer treatment chemicals. There have been a host of environmentally friendly innovations and a drop of 30% in the consumption of products used to maintain the chemical balance of pool water is highly possible, in particular by using the services of pool professionals at the beginning of the season. But also by the use of professionally programmed smart home automation!

Low energy consumption became a standard for modern pools

Tremendous progress means that low energy consumption pools are now available to everyone. The FFP says that this is due to several innovations, including heating systems:

Over the last 25 years, energy consumption has fallen sharply - divided by 4 for filtration systems, by 9 for heating systems and by 2 for pool lighting.

— Fédération des Professionnels de la Piscine (2)

Average annual energy consumption for heating dropped from 15,000 kWh in 1980 to 1,570 kWh in 2015. Heat pumps have become more efficient. As for filtration, energy consumption fell from 5,600 kWh in 1980 to 1,500 kWh due to better dimensioned and/or variable speed pumps – and with the advent of LED lighting, one 30 W bulb is all that is needed to light a pool vs. 600 W in 1980.

And last but not least, a private pool only accounts for 1.2% of the annual CO2 emission by a French household... A drop in the ocean!

It is difficult to get rid of fixed ideas even if they are wrong! So it is up to you to undertake the tough task of convincing the public that pools are, in fact, energy efficient. By judiciously use of the figures detailed above provided by the French Fédération des Professionnels de la Piscine et du spa in your advertising and media communications, you can convince the most reticent. And if you are an FFP member you can download from the FFP site all the documents intended for professionals with your access code. So take the plunge!

(1) FPP: PISCINE Basse Consommation : économies d’eau (PDF)
(2) FPP: PISCINE Basse Consommation : économies d’énergie (PDF)

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