Terravita is a well established north Scottsdale luxury golf development that takes pride in their ongoing green initiatives. The community is nestled into the Sonoran desert landscape at the southern base of Black Mountain with approximately 1380 homes, a beautiful clubhouse and an Olympic-size pool. In September 2008, Tim Horn and the club’s capital improvements committee began looking at the difference pool solar would make in reducing energy costs. With the assistance of Sun Systems, Inc., energy audits were performed with favorable results and the project was adopted into the board’s 2009 – 2010 capital improvement plan.

This almost football field long project is a dual purpose design serving as a shade structure over a 20’ wide walkway extending between pool community center and clubhouse. The corrugated metal roof with its south by southeast orientation is pitched at 17 degrees and supports 106 unglazed 4’ x 8’ pool solar collectors totaling 3,392 sq. ft. The balance of the structure is fabricated in metal with the exception of pre-existing decorative pillars supporting the trailing edge of the roof structure.

When the automated solar system goes active it produces more than 1.6 million Btu per day or approximately 588 million Btu per year. The system is expected to offset current natural gas usage by 37%, saving Terravita homeowners more than $22,000 per year. Local utility rebates from APS reduced the out of pocket cost by $17,242, resulting in a payback of just 2.5 years for the solar portion of the project. With the addition of the commercial pool covers that were also installed, savings over the life of the system are expected to be more than $690,000.

Click on the thumbnails to view larger:

This Gold Medal Installation is at the beautiful Rosarita Beach Hotel in Baja, Mexico. Rosarita Beach is located just south of Tijuana, on the Pacific Ocean, where they get a great deal of sun all year.  Despite the gorgeous weather and ideal conditions for the hotel, its 3200 sq. ft. pool never got over 78°F, especially since their boilers broke down several years ago. The pool was always a brisk swim when their guests were brave enough to take a dip.

Aquatherm Industries Master Dealer, Mark Naylor Solar Specialists of San Diego, California came to the hotel’s rescue. Mark Naylor has been a Master Dealer since 1995 and this is the first “outside the U.S.” pool he has heated. He found the experience to be unique only because of the border issues. “It was just like installing a solar heating system on a pool in Southern California except trying to get the collectors across the border”.  That feat, getting the collectors across the border, took days longer that the installation. His crew installed the Solar Industries Solar Pool Heating System in six hours. While they broke for a late lunch after completing the project, the pool temperature rose from 74° to 78°F. The hotel owners were very pleased because the pool has never seen that temperature in recent memory, and certainly not without the help of expensive oil to fuel the boilers. The owners of the hotel are very proud of their decision to use solar to heat their pool – you’ll notice the owners had Mark Naylor install the system in plain sight of the hotel guests.

The centralized pool hydraulics also presented Pat with another challenge. His unique approach was to design a system with four separate independent heating zones. This resulted in the filtration rates being identical whether the solar system is on or off.

Would Ameco Solar do a similar project again? “You bet,” says Pat Redgate, “It’s very nice to have some commercial projects to show a potential residential customer. It really adds credibility to your presentation.”

The college is extremely pleased with the operation of the solar pool heating system: “It is really working very well” says Gary Paulsen, head of facilities management at Southwestern. The energy services company who proposed the total energy savings project to Southwestern is happy as well. The payback on the pool heating system is so quick, it helped other portions of the project which made the total energy saving package more attractive to the school administration. The project’s first year savings alone is estimated to be 15% and significantly higher when the project is completely capitalized and funded. The energy services company will most certainly include solar pool heating in future projects.

After 3-years of discussions with the management team and owners at Cedar Lodge in El Portal, CA, they decided to go forward with a solar pool heating system on their indoor pool. The cost of fossil fuel – in this case propane – was getting “very expensive” to quote Barry Brouillette, Vice President, Yosemite Management Group which manages Cedar Lodge. He added that “when you are located on the edge of one of the most pristine natural areas in the United States, Yosemite National Park, you tend to be very environmentally sensitive, but we also liked cutting our costs too.” He estimates he has cut energy costs by 60% to 70% and his carbon footprint around the same amount. Yosemite Management Group is so pleased they will be adding solar to their outdoor pool at Cedar Lodge, which has never been heated, and reviewing going solar at their other facilities, too.

The Cedar Lodge installation is beautiful project as you can see with 22 collector coverage for the indoor pool and 6 collectors for the daytime heating of the spa. Even though the spa is open 24 hours, the solar system operating during the daylight hours has reduced the heating bill dramatically. The installer faced other challenges in the cool valley temperatures and the shortened sunlight hours caused by the surrounding mountains. The lodge, elevation 3,000 feet, is nestled in the shadows of El Capitan, elevation 7,300 feet!

In the end, the Cedar Lodge folks were able to save even more money by leasing the project and taking full advantage of available tax credits.

For over 40-years, Camp America Day Camp in Chalfont, Pennsylvania has been providing a place for local youth to spend their summers. Among the facility’s amenities is a 30’ x 60’ swimming pool, which the camp’s owners had left unheated for fear of high heating bills. After hearing the benefits of a solar pool heater, Camp America decided it was the most cost-effective way to give their campers more use from the pool.

The Camp’s owners contracted Solar Living, an Aquatherm Master Dealer since 1998, to install 18 Solar Industries SI-1500 Collectors on the nearby pool-house. The system is automatically-controlled by a Goldline Aquasol with digital temperature control and Hayward motorized diverter valves to operate the system.

“Heating two pools with one solar system not only takes full advantage of the sun’s free energy, it makes great economic sense as well.”

Steve Mitchell, one of the owners, noticed how well the solar heating system was working after just a few short days, and called Solar Living back to discuss solar-heating a pool on the opposite side of the pool-house as well. Richard Bonte of Solar Living had the novel idea to design a control system that would connect the two pools to one solar heating system. According to Bonte, “the system was performing so well the pool was getting up to temperature early in the day and the solar was turning off, even though there was lots of free energy still available. Now, the Camp has the option to switch the solar to whichever pool needs it.”

Bonte said while this is the first time Solar Living has heated two pools with one solar system, Mr. Mitchell and others at Camp America have reported the system is still performing above initial expectations. “Heating two pools with one solar system not only takes full advantage of the sun’s free energy, it makes great economic sense as well,” said Mitchell.

Clean Energy Jobs go to warm swimming pools

By A Siegel – politicalcortex.com
12/06/2009 04:52:55 PM EST

Around the country, whether in schools (K-12 and universities/colleges) or public parks/rec facilities, state and local governments own and operate swimming pools. Many of these, especially as one moves away from the sun belt, are indoor pools heated for good portions of the year. For example, Fairfax, Virginia, has nine recreation centers with indoor swimming pools.  Dependent on many factors, the annual heating bill for one of these (large) pools can run $10,000s to even $100,000s.

Such utility bills typically continue, often under the radar, even amid reduced local tax revenues as a ‘fixed expense’ with seemingly no good choice: continue to operate the pool (perhaps saving some $s by lowering the temperature a few degrees and angering swimmers; perhaps raise entry fees significantly and cut into usage) or close it down for months at a time. Few localities choose the shutdown option, unless near bankruptcy, thereby almost guaranteeing above-inflation rate increases in the utility bills even as local revenues fall.  Another option, however, exists — one that was precluded by the ARRA restrictions and that should be opened with a jobs package:  solar hot water.

Solar hot water for pools represents one of the fastest payback options for renewable energy systems. Without even accounting for any outside assistance, according to the Department of Energy:

A solar pool heating system usually …  provides a payback of between 1.5 and 7 years, depending on your local fuel costs. They also typically last longer than gas and heat pump pool heaters.

“between 1.5 and 7 years” to payback?  That is, roughly, stating that there is an ROI of between 10 and 60+ percent per year of energy savings versus the cost of installation. This, as well, doesn’t account for reduced maintenance costs and lower future system replacement costs.

This Energy Smart choice, however, falls through the cracks in many local government planning systems.  Solar power (of any sort) isn’t well understood and, often, viewed as some form of ‘enviro-liberal luxury’ item. Utilities come out of a different budget than infrastructure investments. Utility costs are often undifferentiated, thus the $100,000 to heat a pool is simply wrapped up in the $300,000 (example) of utilities to run a rec center.  And, amid economic constraints, investment budgets for ‘enviro-liberal luxury’ items are often the first to go to the wayside.

Here, however, is a straightforward way for the Federal government to spark local business activity throughout most of the nation, help local governments reduce operating costs (SAVE MONEY!) while providing better public services (warmer pools at lower cost), foster improved infrastructure for renewable energy projects throughout the nation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs.

At a rough estimate, putting in solar hot water heating in an enclosed public pool might run roughly $100,000 on average. A Federal program could combine direct payments along with additional assistance: a direct payment of 50 percent along with, as necessary, a ten-year loan program for the remaining portion. In essence, this would provide local governments a path toward $10,000s a year in savings on every heated pool’s operating costs, money that could be used to keep teachers and policemen on payroll or pay for other threatened local government expenditures (and/or reducing the burden on taxpayers).

Such a program would be a highly effective leveraging tool as part of Federal assistance to state and local governments. The Federal assistance would pay back, a high rate of return, in terms of local and state governance costs. And, it would foster jobs.

Due to the leveraging amount, assuming that the Federal costs would end up (at the high end) at about 66% of installation costs, every $million invested should support about 30 direct and indirect jobs (which, of course, includes the teachers not fired due to local government savings).

Let’s take that Fairfax County recreation department case: nine large indoor pools. Assuming (almost certainly low) that each pool costs $50,000 to heat each year, this totals some $450,000 in annual heating costs. Pool heating percentage of total costs varies, but a 50 percent figure is a reasonable working number: thus, annual savings would be $225,000 (or roughly 3 teachers with benefits).  Let us assume that it would take $1 million to put in solar hot water heating for all of these large pools.  The upfront costs for the solar heating would be paid back in just under 4.5 years (at a 22.5% per year savings), assuming that energy costs don’t rise.  If the Federal government paid half the costs, the County would see its investment paid back in just over two years. A two-year, 40% per year, payback seems quite sensible for funding via a bond program that might cost the County’s citizens about 5 percent per year in interest.  And, by the way, this does not count the various tax and other economic benefits that would accrue back to the County of Fairfax, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Federal government due to business activity, employment taxes, and other financial implications of such a program.

A $200 million per year program, assuming the Federal government’s costs total 66% on average, would mean some $300 million per year invested in solar heating for public swimming pools (local & state rec centers and parks; K-12 schools; public universities).   In just a few years, the majority of the nation’s public heated pools could be converted to solar heating. A $400 million program ($600 or so total investment) would support the conversion of roughly 6000 public swimming pools around the nation. This program could, as well, easily be extended to Federal pools (such on military bases), assistance to non-profit pools (notably private educational institutions), and assistance to backfitting solar heating to commercial pools (such as water parks).  This extension might mean, roughly, an additional $100 million per year of funding or a total of $300 million per year providing leveraging for over $500 million per year in this quick conversion effort from using fossil fuels to solar energy for heating America’s pools and water parks.

Clean Energy Jobs Go Swimming: $300 million per year for 10,000 jobs

A year ago, natural gas prices were nearly three times what they were in 1999. Now they’re only twice as high. But heating a commercial swimming pool still takes a chunk of change, especially when you consider the relatively cheap power available from the ball of superheated hydrogen and helium that can be viewed, most days, up in the sky.

It used to be that solar pool heating’s primary drawback, even in places where clouds are scarce, was an equipment payback of between eight and 10 years. Aquatic consulting firms such as Carlsbad, Calif.-based Aquatic Design Group now estimate the return on investment at more like four to six years, while manufacturers such as Suntrek Solar of Irvine, Calif., now claim an ROI of less than three years.

“We prefer to be conservative with our numbers, but solar’s great,” says ADG principal Randy Mendioroz. “Natural gas represents 70 percent of the utility usage for a typical pool, and it’s doubtful that natural gas prices will go down. Given these realities, we’ve got to look at things like solar. Thermal solar is the best technology available at present to reduce that 70 percent figure and keep pools running.”

Nationally, consumers have lined up, even in recessionary times, to take advantage of a 30 percent federal tax credit for energy-efficient upgrades to residences. No such large-scale tax credits exist for pools, however, since pools (specifically, residential pools) are seen as luxury items. Roy Heine, president and CEO of Suntrek Solar, says this demonstrates the accuracy of his lower ROI estimate. “The technology does not need a tax credit to justify the investment,” Heine says. “If it can pay for itself in less than three years, why should the government subsidize it?”

One bit of movement on the federal level is a coming push by the Solar Energy Industries Association to get commercial pool heaters inserted into the federal Solar Investment Tax Credit. Dan Sizelove, marketing coordinator of Aquatherm Industries Inc.. in Lakewood, N.J., says “It’s far from a done deal,” but adds that the industry is counting on SEIA’s clout to make it happen.

Energy-related tax credits and rebates are typically offered by utilities and by state and local governments. One example is Savings By Design, a California energy-efficiency program for non-residential new construction and renovation/remodeling projects that is funded by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Through the program, architects get design assistance and building owners can receive grants of up to $150,000 per project to help pay for investing in energy-efficient design.

Finding incentives that are applicable to small projects such as solar pool heating is the trick. Fortunately, aquatics consultants and pool suppliers are knowledgeable about any incentive that might save clients money, and remain the best source for current information. In addition, there’s the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, an extremely valuable resource featuring a URL that should be typed with care (www.dsireusa.org).

California has long been on the leading edge of incentives related to solar energy. Following the energy crisis of the early 1970s, a statewide program provided reimbursements for up to 50 percent of the cost of a solar heating system. During this decade, a bill passed by the California Legislature required that solar energy equipment be installed on all state buildings and state parking facilities, and on all state-owned swimming pools currently heated with fossil fuels or electricity. And as part of Title 24, Part 6 of the California Code of Regulations, which goes into effect Jan. 1, all public agencies considering constructing a commercial pool must first perform a solar feasibility study.

The greatest action on the incentives front currently comes not from legislatures, but from third-party power purchasers and equipment manufacturers. A rapidly growing business model, similar to cap and trade, involves a Power Purchasing Agreement with an outside firm that finances the purchase of a municipality’s or school’s solar equipment, and in return collects the tax write-off for which the public (that is, already tax-exempt) agency is not eligible. The California Solar Center offers a free guide to PPAs (www.californiasolarcenter.org), which are arranged by a number of different power purchasers, mostly in California and in other sun-rich states such as Arizona, Texas and Florida.

Solar equipment manufacturers will also arrange third-party PPAs for potential clients, as well as a similar but separate arrangement in which the manufacturer installs a system gratis but then charges the facility owner power at a discount over the length of a 10-year contract. “With these kinds of arrangements, the pool owner can go green without making a capital outlay or incurring any liability,” Heine says, “and instead just pay for green power at a reduced rate.”

Heating the pool in green fashion is often not looked at in isolation — facility owners are more likely to invest in an overall strategy to power the pool heater, the locker room’s hot-water heater and some portion of the facility’s electrical system besides. Unlike pool heating, these latter two installations are, in fact, eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit.

“We’d much rather not have to rely on incentives to move a product — we want capitalism to just play its course,” Heine says. “But the incentives can make a big difference. When it’s all said and done, between utility rebates, tax credits and the like, sometimes 80 to 90 percent of an investment in solar can be subsidized by the government.”

The Republic Goes Green

The Boys Republic is a private, nonprofit school and treatment community for troubled youngsters 13 to 17 years old. Since its founding in 1907, it has guided more than 23,000 at-risk teens. The late Steve McQueen, international film star and perhaps Boys Republic’s most famous graduate continued to support and visit the campus often during his later career.

Their 2,280 square foot swimming pool was heated with an old boiler system, which failed years ago. They were unable to repair or replace it at the time due to budget restraints. Recently, thanks to an anonymous donor they were able to install a solar pool heating system.

After careful research and comparisons, they selected the Solar Industries Solar Pool Heater due to its performance and outstanding quality, and Solar Heating Specialists of Riverside, California to design and install the system, because of their reputation and over 30 years of experience in solar pool heating.

Solar Heating Specialists installed 26 – 4 ft. x 8 ft. and 19 – 4 ft. x 12 ft. for a total of 45 SI collectors on the roof of the Tech / Rec center and used a Goldline GL-T auto control to operate the system. A Pentair model 4×160 variable speed pump was used as the booster pump to provide the flow to the solar collectors. They designed the system with 76% coverage to provide an April through October swim season.

Commercial swimming pools have become a large part of the solar swimming pool heating market, primarily due to rising energy costs and shrinking budgets. It is estimated that there are over 250,000 commercial pools in the US, ranging in size from small outdoor hotel pools to Olympic size pools at colleges and universities that are heated by either natural gas or propane.  The operators of these pools are searching for ways to reduce their operating cost and using solar to heat their pools is one of the best investments they can make.

October 8, 2009 (Washington, D.C.) – A vast majority of Americans, across all political parties, overwhelmingly support development and funding of solar energy, and their support for solar has remained consistent over the last year. These and other findings were reported today in the 2009 SCHOTT Solar BarometerTM, a nationally representative survey conducted by independent polling firm Kelton Research.

The survey found that 92 percent of Americans think it is important for the U.S. to develop and use solar energy. This strong support for solar remains unchanged since Americans were asked the same questions in the June 2008 SCHOTT Solar Barometer (94%). (The difference is within the margin of error for both polls.)

This support for solar power is consistent across political party affiliation with 89 percent of Republicans, 94 percent of Democrats and 93 percent of Independents agreeing that it is important for the U.S. to develop and use solar power.

Furthermore, close to eight in 10 (77%) Americans feel that the development of solar power, and other renewable energy sources, should be a major priority of the federal government, including the financial support needed. This sentiment also remains the same since June 2008 (77%).

“The SCHOTT Solar Barometer confirms our belief that Americans are ready for solar energy,” said Dr. Gerald Fine, President & CEO of SCHOTT North America. “We’ve invested over $100 million in Albuquerque, New Mexico and created hundreds of green jobs manufacturing innovative solar products.”

“With controversial debates happening all over America, this isn’t one of them,” said Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “Americans overwhelmingly want clean, reliable solar energy for their homes and businesses. It’s now time for Congress to listen to the American public and prioritize the use of solar in upcoming energy legislation. By expanding the U.S. market for solar, Congress will reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while creating jobs in all 50 states.”

The poll also showed that if they had to choose one energy source to financially support if they were President, 43 percent of Americans would opt for solar over other sources such as wind (17%), natural gas (12%) and nuclear (10%).

Almost half of all Americans (49%) say they’re currently pondering solar power options for their home or business – and another three percent already have solar power. Among those who would like to take advantage of solar power at home or at work, seven in 10 (70%) envision they would make the change within the next five years.

But most feel they lack information – fewer than one in five (12%) can claim that they’re extremely informed about the subject of solar power in general. What’s more, almost three in four (74%) Americans admit they wish they knew more about solar power options for their home or business.

About SEIA

Established in 1974, the Solar Energy Industries Association is the national trade association of solar energy industry. As the voice of the industry, SEIA works to make solar a mainstream and significant energy source by expanding markets, removing market barriers, strengthening the industry and educating the public on the benefits of solar energy.  Learn more at www.seia.org.

Google Earth view of Nestle's 900-collector Process Preheat System

Nestle’s various production processes require large volumes of well water to be heated to steam (212º F or 100º C). Through the use of an inexpensive, efficient polymer solar collector – such as the Ecosun collector used in the installation – Nestle is now able to pre-heat the water from ground temperatures to as high as 100º F (38º C) using the sun’s free energy, before using traditional boilers to heat the water to the required end-temperature. With this “hybrid” system, Nestle is able to dramatically reduce energy costs and consumption. Nestle has plans for a secondary solar installation next year, consisting of flat-plate or evacuated tube collectors, which will heat the water from 38º C to 90º C, nearly eliminating the need for boilers entirely.

Aquatherm Master Dealer and Regional Distribution Center Modulo Solar (Civac Morelos, Mexico) was awarded the contract based on their experience with large-scale solar pool heating systems – last year Modulo Solar installed 700 Ecosun collectors at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional olympic-sized swimming pool, which is currently the largest solar pool heating system in North America.