In 2011, Redditch officials proposed using waste heat from a nearby crematorium to warm the town’s swimming pool, prompting public outrage and international headlines. Despite the controversy, the system went ahead and has heated the pool since 2013, while reducing fuel costs and demonstrating how crematorium waste heat can be reused.
How Redditch began heating its pool
The plan triggered a public firestorm after it was announced. The project generated international headlines, while union officials described it as “sick and an insult to the residents.” Unison, the union involved, later clarified that the comment was not—and is not—the organisation’s official position.
“All you’re basically doing is heating up a radiator and pumping that heat into tubes,” said Guy Revans, a councillor for Redditch and Bromsgrove councils, south of Birmingham. “But death is always an emotional subject, isn’t it?”
After the initial coverage subsided, the project won a green award. The crematorium has supplied heat to Redditch’s swimming pool since 2013.
Capturing heat from crematorium exhaust
About 1,200 cremations take place in Redditch each year. The facility has two gas-fired cremators. During the process of removing vaporised mercury released from dental fillings, a heat exchanger captures heat from the exhaust gas before the remaining gas is vented into the atmosphere.
Heat recovery is already a common feature of many crematoriums. The question, therefore, is whether the captured heat should be put to use rather than wasted. In Redditch, the heat exchanger connects to a water loop running 200 metres underground. The loop carries the heat to another heat exchanger, which transfers it to the swimming pool.
Large bodies of water can “act as heat sinks,” Revans said. “When you add heat during the day, it retains that heat for a significant amount of time.” The recreation centre also has a gas-fired boiler to provide additional heat when required.
Overall, the system has saved the council tens of thousands of pounds a year in fuel costs.
Reusing crematorium waste heat
Although such schemes are extremely rare in North America, European countries have used crematorium heat for many years. The total amount of heat available from crematoriums is limited, but recovering it could reduce the carbon intensity of funerals as communities seek to lessen their environmental impact.
Similar projects have also appeared elsewhere. A school under construction in Aberdeen, Scotland, is expected to receive additional heat from the city’s crematorium. Crematoriums also use recovered waste heat to warm their own buildings.
Source: www.wired.com