A community swimming pool called the Richmond Plunge has just opened in Richmond, California, and it may be the most efficient swimming pool in the country. The Richmond Plunge has many efficient features: it’s heated by solar collectors, it’s entirely chlorine-free, and the building is powered by solar panels on the roof. The Plunge is a historic pool — it was first opened in 1926. Now, after ten years of renovation it has been reopened.
It’s a huge pool — it holds 324,000 gallons of water and measures 60 feet by 160 feet. The water is heated by being circulated through eighty Heliodyne Gobi solar collectors on the roof.
The pool also contains no chlorine. Instead, a saline solution is used, coupled with an ultraviolet disinfectant system. This means children and other swimmers can swim without goggles, and they will avoid the other health hazards of chlorine (which we detail in this recent article). The use of natural ventilation and the reduction of chloramines in the water will make swimming in the Plunge a healthy experience.
The pool also has an array of solar electric panels that produce 30 kilowatts for the building. This large, solar hot water heating system was installed by Sun Light & Power, a San Francisco/Bay Area solar installation company.
Link: Richmond Plunge
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Wow and to think all these years we have been told it’s ok to open your eyes in the pool. I had no idea that chlorine had adverse effects on health. Wish I would have known this about 30 years ago. It’s amaizing to hear of new findings of science that disprove the teachings of old, lol. Can’t belive it took ten years to reconstruct and update, what a project. Saline, who would have thought.
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