There’s more to Yawa than meets the eye
Published on 10 November 2021
After a lengthy lockdown, our Yawa Aquatic Centre is back open and already welcoming a steady stream of people.
But did you know there’s more to Yawa than meets the eye? Did you know there are 916 solar panels covering the entire roof of Yawa Aquatic Centre? That’s right, these solar panels will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 406 tonnes per year and save more than $100,000 in running costs.
But that’s not the only thing we’ve done to make the building sustainable. What you can’t see from the outside is the other cost and energy efficient initiatives, including:
- The impressive rainwater harvesting system collects up to 100,000 litres of water in four tanks connected to the pool filtration system. This water is used to top up the pools, saving thousands of litres of water a year.
- Energy efficient boiler to heat close to 2 million litres of pool water
- Thermal insulation around the pool shell
- High levels of air tightness to improve efficiency of the heating and cooling systems
- Advanced air pressurisation system to control the air condition, ensuring warm air in the pool areas and cooler air in the gym and café. This system works like a pool blanket, reducing evaporation and condensation
- Weather and occupancy responsive monitoring systems control lighting, heating and cooling
- A Building Management System that allows for monitoring and control of all major systems
- Energy efficient lighting, which uses less energy and needs replacing less often. Sky lights allow natural light in
- Double and clear glazing windows let heat into the building during winter.
These initiatives ensure Yawa Aquatic Centre delivers on key targets in our Climate Emergency Plan, particularly in the Zero Carbon Energy summit. The state-of-the-art facility also closely aligns to the ESD Policy for Council Buildings and Civil Works, which embeds sustainability in all of our major infrastructure projects, from buildings to roads to open spaces.
More information:
Mornpen.vic.gov.au/climateemergency
Mornpen.vic.gov.au/esdpolicy
Yawa.com.au
Watch our Mayor, Councillor Despi O’Connor, give a tour of the facility and showcasing some of these achievements at youtu.be/idB1Rcki9IE.
Quote attributable to Mayor Councillor Despi O’Connor:
“The Shire has an Environmentally Sustainable Design Policy for our buildings and civil works, embedding sustainability in all of our major projects, from buildings to roads to open spaces.
“Yawa Aquatic Centre is a great example of how we have maximised sustainability in the design and build.
“The building is pressurised, much like a balloon – with few “holes” to let air in. This allows us to operate the fans at lower speeds, using less energy.
“By harvesting rainwater from the roof, we are able to replenish water in the pools organically – saving water and reducing energy use in the process.
“With a facility of this size, Yawa Aquatic Centre requires a lot of energy to run. The design team has carefully balanced the use of existing technologies, such as energy efficient gas boilers to heat the two million litres of pool water, with many state of the art smart and environmentally friendly solutions, to achieve a modern, energy efficient centre for the community.
“Council is very proud of this building with its many energy saving systems reducing carbon emissions.”