Increasing Energy Efficiency and Decarbonising Swimming Pools Using Non-Chemical, Advanced Physical Water Treatment Technology

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£656,125

Sept. 30, 2020

Sept. 30, 2021

**The Market Need:** There are over 3100 commercial and private pools in the UK, ranging from small 10 metres pools as part of fitness centres to 50 metre "Olympic" competition pools. The operation of swimming pools can be very expensive as there is a constant need for heat and water treatment. This means that swimming pools have a disproportionally high carbon footprint per square metre in comparison to other business sectors. An average 20 metre pool can expect to spend £45,000 per annum on water heating and treatment along, with having a carbon footprint of 194 tonnes per annum associated with energy, water and chemical consumption.

The Covid-19 crisis has hit the leisure sector hard, with swimming pools being some of the last to be released from lock down. The crisis has potentially damaged the growth of the industry for some time as no one is sure what the speed of recovery will be like.

With the governments 2050 Net Zero targets in mind and the current need to reduce costs, there has never been a better time for the industry to invest in sustainable technology to help improve energy efficiency and reduce water and chemical consumption. Such investments would contribute to savings in OPEX whilst reducing the impact on climate change.

**The Solution:** Environmental Treatment Concepts (ETC) is a market leading UK company in the area of non-chemical water treatment solutions and will use the proposed project to output a new, non-chemical method for treating pool water (also known as physical water treatment) using frequency-modulated energy to change the properties of the water. The goal will be to help end users lower their carbon footprint and operational expenditure by installing technology to reduce chemical, water and energy consumption

**Addressing The Need:** The proposed new water treatment device will be developed to show where pool operators can make carbon and cost savings through physical water treatment

This will be achieved by experimenting with frequencies and outputs to establish which type of physical water treatment is most suited to pool water. When this is concluded, ETC will evaluate working prototypes on 3 nominated trial sites.

Once all availabe data is collated, a final design specification will be settled on and a suitable range of products will be added to ETC's product list and presented to the industry sector along with a trial report showing what can be achieved with physical water treatment