- From the Waikato Times, Saturday 05 July 2008, by Rebecca Harper
Don and Lynne Mossop of Athenree Hot Springs and Holiday Park have won an award for their innovative water heat pump unit.
The pump harnesses heat from water discharged from the mineral pool at the park and turns it into energy, which is then used to heat fresh water going into the small mineral pool.
The idea allowed them to do away with an old diesel burner previously used to heat the pools and has saved more than $7200 a year.
It also reduced their carbon footprint by about 32 tonnes a year and lowered the temperature of the waste water they discharged by 2C, benefiting the environment.
The Mossops were recently awarded the Reserve Group Innovation Award at the Holiday Parks Conference.
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"Diesel prices were skyrocketing and our tourists really are looking to make sure we are talking the talk and walking the walk.
"They do take environmental issues really seriously," Mr Mossop said.
"We knew we had to do something, so we are taking the energy out of the water that is just spilled to waste. We thought there had to be a smart way of recovering the energy from the heat (of the water)." So the couple enlisted the help of Taupo-based geothermal energy consultant Ian Thain and he suggested the heat pump.
"We did away with the diesel burner and now we take the heat from the pool waste and use the energy with a heat pump to raise the temperature of the fresh incoming geothermal water going into the pool."
The water is drawn from a deep well, about 280m below ground, and comes out at about 37C. The Mossops heat the small mineral pool to 40C and the large pool to 35C.
"We can use the heat pump to boost the temperature of the big pool on a cold day we couldn't do that before," Mrs Mossop said.
The awards usually attracted high-quality entrants.
"We feel it's good to be doing these sort of things and encouraging others to have a go."
Next up at Athenree is building more motel units and luxury chalets they recently got consent for.
"The holiday park market is definitely getting a little more sophisticated. Even family camping. It used to just be the rickety old tent, now they tend to bring a refrigerator and dvds for the kids," Mr Mossop said.
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