LIDOS


Bristol (below) and Chipping Norton (right) lidos are both using greener sources of energy


IT'S QUITE COMPLICATED: POOLS NEED TO WORK OUT WHICH TECHNOLOGIES WOULD WORK, AND ALSO WHICH THEY CAN GET FUNDING FOR


Aside from solar energy, other possible options for alternative heating sources include ground-source heat pumps, pool covers, surface fi lms (see box), and wood pellets (these are used at Helmsley pool in Yorkshire). All these can be expensive, however. The two solar collectors at Bristol's privately owned Lido cost about £50,000 (excluding installation) – an amount beyond the reach of most community pools. Grants do exist, but Mike Cut s, chairman of the trust-run Cirencester Open Air Swimming Pool in Gloucestershire, says they can be diffi cult to obtain: “A German company visited who were interested in installing two air-source heat pumps, but the total cost would have been £70,000, and the only grants available to us were for £50,000.” Staff at Chipping Norton Lido in Oxfordshire did manage to obtain several grants that allowed them to install a system for using ground source and solar energy to heat the pool. “We would not have been able to do it without grants,” says Claire Jarvis, of the Chipping Norton Lido Trust. Once installed, though, maintenance costs are low, and the trust has saved over 50 percent on heating bills. “It is quite complicated to assess the options available to you,” says Jarvis: pools need to work out not only which technologies would work, but which they can get funding for. The application forms are daunting in themselves (one Jarvis faced required a 5,000-word supporting document). “But once you have done one, then you can use the information for others,” says Jarvis. “It’s worth persevering.”


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"TROPICAL FISH" Alas, you still have to travel to a far-fl ung paradise to swim with real tropical fi sh. But lidos and outdoor pools might fi nd a use for their namesakes: plastic fi sh, which ooze a liquid that gathers as a fi lm on the water surface – a ‘liquid solar blanket’, designed to prevent heat loss.


“We’ve trialled Tropical Fish and Heatsavr [another heat- saving liquid],” says Grahame Hadden of Twickenham’s Hampton Pool. “There is a visible reduction in rising steam from the pool, but as swimmers move up and down the water surface is broken up, and steam will rise so the trials have always been diffi cult to quantify.” sunsolar.com/set_liquid_heat.htm


Lido supporters undoubtedly show a great deal of ingenuity and energy. But some collated advice would be highly useful, believes Arne Ringner: "I had the time to do research. But there could be a tremendous amount of money saved if there was a common blueprint made available that said: 'This is how you do it, this is how it works. Here are the guiding principles.’” Chipping Norton Lido Trust was grateful for help from its solar-technology supplier, as well as the non-profi t Energy Saving Trust. If there were more ways for lidos to share resources and experiences – perhaps with help from government or a specialist charity – then surely more of them could look forward to a sustainable future. ○


Jonathan Knot is a freelance journalist and news editor for the Outdoor Swimming Society. He has writ en on lidos for a number of publications, including the Guardian and the London Evening Standard. His local lido is London Fields. As well as swimming, he writes about politics and travel and is the author of the travel guide skiathostruth.com


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