Program 1: Integrated Building Systems
The approach is to work with Randwick City Council through their Sustainability program to run a “swimming pool energy efficiency trial project” amongst Randwick residents with pools, especially solar pool heaters.
With Randwick Council as the vehicle this will allow the CRC to engage with pool equipment manufacturers, suppliers and installers to trial the systems and approaches arising out of RP1014. A small number of pool systems (5 – 10) will be retrofitted and user acceptance assessed. Energy efficient solar pool heating systems, advanced filtering systems and PV/T heating systems will be trialed.
The objectives of this project are:
• Develop and strengthen relationships with pool equipment suppliers in order to encourage them to adopt more efficient pool pumps for filtering and solar pool heating.
• Development of a commercial package of equipment that can be delivered by pool suppliers.
• Suite of training or education material for residents and local government to accelerate uptake.
• Engagement with pool installers – run workshops, field days for them to come along and see these systems in real world settings.
Program
Project leader
A/Prof Alistair Sproul, UNSW
Project status
Complete
Project period
10/2017 to 10/2018
- Publications
- Posters
- Partners
- News
Peer Reviewed Research Publications
RP1014: Journal Article: Experimental study of a solar pool heating system under lower flow and low pump speed conditions
The operation of an unglazed, open-loop, solar-collector for residential pool heating was investigated experimentally under various flow conditions. The objective was to examine if solar pool collectors can be operated at lower flow conditions to minimize the pump energy while still providing sufficient thermal energy output to heat the pool. The system consists of a 20.5 m2 plastic tube, solar collector and a 36 m2 in-ground open-air pool. Key parameters were monitored over 38 days to validate a steady state model. The model achieved a good fit against the measured data and was used to simulate the system performance under various scenarios. Operating the system at low pump speed with a mass flow rate per unit collector area (m˙/AC) of 0.016 kgs−1m−2 was found to be optimal and achieved 60% pump energy savings. The coefficient of performance was increased by 2.5 times without compromising the thermal performance of the system in comparison to the Business as Usual (BAU) case. The optimal m˙/AC is approximately 50% of the lower limit specified by International and Australian Standards. Assuming all systems in Australia were operated under optimal conditions, annually 180 GWh of electricity consumption and 150 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions could be avoided.
Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.12.006
RP1014u1: Final Report: Energy efficient swimming pools – Engagement and utilization
This report covers the activities of utilisation project “Energy efficient swimming pools – engagement and utilization”. This involved project partners: School of PV and RE Engineering, UNSW, Simply Better Pool Savings, and Randwick Council.
This partnership enabled Simply Better Pool Savings to utilise the research outputs from the CRC LCL Project RP1014 which investigated the use of low flow operation of solar pool heating and low flow operation for pool filtering. Residential pools account for up to 30% of a household’s total energy consumption, making them one of the largest energy consumers in the home. A typical residential pool filtering system uses a 1 kW pump and consumes over 2,000 kWh/year of electricity. A typical solar pool heating system normally operates over the swimming season (October to March). It utilises a pump that consumes ~0.75 kW or more and 6 kWh/day of electricity.
The Pool Efficiency Program has provided a total of 70 pool energy assessments and retrofitted 39 pump speed controllers to existing single-speed pool pumps. The free pool energy assessments that were offered to the participants included a tailored summary of how their pool currently consumes energy, simple suggestions to reduce energy consumption, and either the subsidised pool pump retrofit or a subsidised pump replacement. On average, the Pool Efficiency Program has reduced the pool pump energy consumption by 71% (~1,740 kWh/year per household) and saved $486 on annual electricity bills. The associated GHG emission reductions are 1.67 tonnes CO2-e per household per year, which is approximately the same amount of emissions produced by a typical car travelling 6,400 kilometres. Over 94% of the participants who adopted a pool pump retrofit have reported that they are either ‘satisfied’ or better with their experience in Pool Efficiency Program. Over 44% said they were ‘extremely satisfied’.
The pool pump noise has been reduced by approximately 86% on average, which was highly regarded by all participants. As compared to the conventional pool industry in Australia, the pump retrofit option and setup optimisation provided by the Pool Efficiency Program is estimated to achieve ~44% higher solution adoption rates and obtain ~70% additional energy savings in every household that adopts the recommended improvements (~720 kWh/year). The energy savings were delivered by a) reducing the main filtering pump speed, and some combination of; b) reducing the solar pool heating pump speed and/or; c) optimizing the run times of the main filtering pumps and/or; and d) optimizing the run times of the pressure pool cleaner pumps. Where necessary and possible optimizations could also involve recommended changes to other existing pool equipment e.g. chlorinators.
Assuming all eligible residential swimming pools in the Randwick area were retrofitted with the pump speed controller, approximately 3.7 GWh of electricity could be saved every year, which corresponds to approximately 3.5 kt CO2-e of GHG emission reductions.
Fact sheets
RP1014 FACTSHEET: Minimising Your Pool's Energy Consumption
Pool pumps are the second biggest user of electricity in Australian homes after hot water systems, and pool pump motors are often more powerful and run longer and much faster than required.
Significant dollar and carbon savings can be achieved by adjusting the pump’s speed and run times to achieve maximum efficiency – by installing a controller or a variable speed and energy efficient pump. There is no negative impact on water quality, keeping your pool pristine.
RP1014: Factsheet: Minimising Your Pool's Energy Consumption (842412 PDF)
CRCLCL Project Posters
Student poster 2015: RP1014 Impact of energy efficient pool pumps on peak demand, energy costs and carbon reduction
Student poster - Participants Annual Forum 2015 - Jianzhou Zhao
Impact of energy efficient pool pumps on peak demand, energy costs and carbon reduction
Jianzhou Zhao student poster 2015 RP1014 (205411 PDF)
Student poster 2016: RP1014 Impact of energy efficiency pool pumps on peak demand, energy costs and carbon reduction
Student poster - Participants Annual Forum 2016 - Jianzhou Zhao Impact of energy efficiency pool pumps on peak demand, energy costs and carbon reduction
Jianzhou Zhao Student Poster 2016 RP1014 (335056 PDF)
Student Poster 2017: RP1014 - IMPACT OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY POOL PUMPS ON PEAK DEMAND, ENERGY COSTS AND CARBON REDUCTION
Jianzhou Zhao: Student Poster 2017 - RP1014 (258968 PDF)
Project partners
UNSW - Sydney
News articles
New study reveals ducted air-conditioning and pools drive Sydney’s residential electricity demand
17 August 2015
The first comprehensive modelling study to pinpoint the highest drivers of a typical Sydney household’s daily electricity demand has been published online in Elselvier’s international journal Energy and Buildings, revealing that ducted air-conditioning and pools are the top culprits.
Undertaken by the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and funded by the CRC for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL), the study used data from Australia’s first large-scale smart grid project (Australian Smart Grid Smart City) and associated household surveys conducted on driving factors such as household demographics, dwelling type, utilities, white goods, weather, behaviours and attitude.
CRCLC Integrated Buildings Systems Program Leader and study co-author, Associate Professor Alistair Sproul said the results will help policy makers and planners measure the impact of different housing types and housing trends on local electricity demand.
“We found that air-conditioning and pools were the top two drivers as the study showed households with ducted air-conditioning used on average 79% more electricity than those with none, while those with a split air-conditioning system consumed some 34% more. Pool pumps were also a big energy user as 15% of households surveyed had a pool and their annual average daily electricity demand was 93% higher than those without,” he said.
Downloads
