The proposed indoor pool at Ridgeland Common comes with a $40 million construction price tag but would operating costs be similar to those of the existing pool? Indoor pools use a lot of energy for heating, ventilation and de-humidification. Recent Energy Star analysis from EPA puts the energy demands of an indoor pool from 7 to 11 times the energy costs for an outdoor pool of the same size (Google “Swimming Pools and the Energy Star Score in the United States and Canada”).
The new indoor facility may be presented with a new green label but past experience shows that the designs do not necessarily pan out to the wished-for result. For instance, the Community Recreation Center’s “Net-Zero” building is such in name only. Current data from the CRC’s education screen suggests that the building has consumed some 140,000 KWh of electricity in the past 12 months, in excess of what the solar panels have produced. This is electricity that we purchased amid rising electricity rates.
The price tag for operating an indoor pool would be much greater. In Energy Star’s analysis, indoor pools in buildings with ice rinks consume the most energy of any category of pool. Given these realities, building a new indoor pool next to an ice rink is not sensible.
Susan Subak
Oak Park
