Doing the Right Thing

DualSun installation for The University of Queensland.

Rising energy costs demand that aquatic centres fi nd less carbon-intensive ways to remain operational

Nation-wide, at least 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions could be cut from aquatic centres by reducing their energy consumption by just 10%.

However, one of the key current sustainability barriers for commercial aquatic centres is offsetting their carbon output and sourcing cost-efficient heating solutions, while running at optimal performance.

Centres usually operate for long hours, every day of the year, and have to maintain constant temperatures in the pools and in the spaces surrounding them in summer and winter.

Water has to be treated, evaporation and water loss controlled, and slippery floors and moisture dealt with. On top of that, the entire centre has to be heated, which adds a lot of complexity to the selection of suitable heating systems. As a result, water and space heating can account for up to 80% of an aquatic centre’s total energy costs.

Advancements in technology and innovation are proving successful for powering aquatic facilities and being sustainable. Gas or electric heating systems are the traditional solutions to run centres, however they are highly carbon-intensive.

Supreme Heating, founded in Melbourne in 1990, is a leading and innovative pool heating company. With offices in each state across Australia, the resources available to their clients include service and support capabilities, a nationwide network of outlets, and onsite manufacturing at their Melbourne-based head office and warehouse.

The company continually invests resources ensuring quality products and continued innovation towards a sustainable future. The revolutionary product, Heatseeker DualSun, simultaneously produces electricity and heating for pools and other hot water applications. It is the first hybrid panel certified in the world.

Founder and director Colin Mauger says the company had evolved over 31 years to its strong focus on sustainability. The company services the needs and provides feasible and green solutions for the national residential and commercial swimming pool industry.

“Our focus is to consistently pioneer new, energy-efficient heating products, most of which did not exist in the marketplace back in the early 1990s.”

Anthony Denahy who has recently joined the team as the Commercial Business Development Manager for DualSun, explains “our domestic business has been solid largely as a result of people finding that they couldn’t travel and were spending more time at home.

“As a result, they wanted to improve or add to their backyard pools, making their backyard their resort.”

In the commercial sector, Denahy stated “we have a very strong interest in DualSun and our other commercial products for large commercial projects and local government facilities for environmentally friendly and responsible solutions for pool heating.”

With its product range having expanded from thermal pool covers and rollers along with a range of pool heating systems, since 2018 Supreme Heating has offered the French-made Heatseeker DualSun hybrid solar panel to the market, as the product’s sole distributor in Australia.

A multi-award-winning hybrid solar panel, Heatseeker

DualSun can be fi tted to a range of roofs, large and small.

DualSun provides two solutions in one footprint and secured a host of awards for sustainability and ‘product of the year’ when released in Australia.

Advising of the significance of DualSun for aquatic centres, Mauger says “with the ongoing shifts in customer expectations - and as the Federal Government aims to meet the emission reduction targets - there is a degree of uncertainty around the use of natural gas, electricity generation, and energy prices.

“In such a climate, sustainability and sustainable products are critical for achieving success and creating positive outcomes for the industry. Pools use a lot of energy and we are looking to help local governments and operators reduce energy costs with environmentally friendly solutions rather than using fossil fuels.

“Most of the thermal energy going into an indoor aquatic centre is used to heat pool water to around 27-29 degrees Celsius. That warm water evaporates, absorbing large amounts of energy. Pools are essentially a big evaporative cooler – you have this big body of water from which air strips the heat out and if you are using a fossil-fuelled heat source it takes an excessive amount of energy to restore that heat.

“It’s the industry’s responsibility - the designers, the engineers, the pool builders, and facility managers - to make sure our pools are running sustainably. Our pools are such a costly asset so, the responsibility of all involved operating them as cost-efficiently and as environmentally friendly as possible and is something end-users and community expectations will increasingly demand.”

In practice, the installation of DualSun hybrid solar panels sees the utilisation of excess heat from the photovoltaic (PV) panels to provide electricity and thermal heating for commercial aquatic facilties.

Essentially, the panel simultaneously produces photovoltaic electricity for the building and heated water for the pool.

The electricity generated by the high efficiency monocrystalline cells can cover all the electricity needs of the swimming pool while any surplus electricity can be self-consumed in the commercial swimming pool facility, or returned to the grid for a feed-in tariff or net-metering program.

The patented ultra-thin heat exchanger is completely integrated into the panel. As the pool water flows through the heat exchanger, the water is heated while simultaneously cooling the panel. This results in a highly efficient transfer of heat between the photovoltaic surface and the water circulation on the underside. Traditional photovoltaic panels generate much more heat than electricity.

The cooling effect on the DualSun panel allows the photovoltaic electrical generation to be maintained, and increases peak performance by up to 20%. A DualSun installation generating heated water and solar electricity produces up to four times more energy than a standard PV installation.

Supreme Heating’s latest project was at The University of Queensland, with 326 Heatseeker DualSun panels installed. The system provides electricity for their buildings as well as heating their three pools. The University’s mission was to showcase the benefits of committing to green energy by building the largest DualSun PVT system in the world.

The system has provided the University with an initial 90% offset of all associated heating and with, expected rising energy prices, will become 100% renewable. The roof space could not accommodate a separate PV electric panel and a conventional solar pool heating system; but with DualSun, they could.

Mauger concludes “our dedication to our employees, customers, and community, fuelled by our passion for providing innovative, renewable and sustainable solutions, has been the foundation of our success and will continue to drive Supreme Heating for years to come.”

Supreme Heating has been an industry leader for over 30 years, providing pool heating solutions in Australia, continually investing resources to ensure quality products and continued innovation.

DualSun installation at Bundaberg Regional Council’s Isis War Memorial Swimming Pool (above and below right).