Brit council plans to warm swimming pool with heat from crematorium

LONDON - A council in Britain has made a proposal to save money and combat global warming by heating a leisure centre and swimming pool using heat generated by a crematorium next door.

Redditch council in Worcestershire says it can save 14,500 pounds a year by warming its new Abbey Stadium sports centre with heat from the crematorium’s incinerators that would otherwise be lost.

The council, which says it is the first project of its kind in the UK, is holding briefings later this week with faith groups, funeral directors and members of the public to discuss the scheme.

“I don’t know how comfortable people would feel about the swimming pool being heated due to the death of a loved one, I think it’s a bit strange and eerie,” the Guardian quoted Simon Thomas, of Thomas Brothers funeral directors, as saying.

Council leader Carole Gandy defended the plans, saying it would save money and energy.

“I’d much rather use the energy rather than just see it going out of the chimney and heating the sky. It will make absolutely no difference to the people who are using the crematorium for services,” she said.

“It’s only a proposal at the moment but personally I’m supportive of it because I think it will save the authority money and, in the long-term, save energy which is what we’re all being told we should do,” she stated.

Gordon Hull, from the Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities, added that the plan made sense from an environmental point of view. (ANI)