GoKawiilUK crematoria repurpose cremation heat to warm swimming pools and buildings
European crematoria, including one in Redditch, England, have been capturing waste heat from cremation furnaces and piping it to nearby facilities such as swimming pools. In Redditch, a heat exchanger captures heat from the crematorium's flue gases—already filtered to remove mercury vapor—and sends it via an underground water loop roughly 200 meters to the local pool, a system running since 2013 after initial public backlash in 2011.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The practice shows how waste heat that would otherwise vent into the atmosphere can be redirected for practical use, potentially lowering the carbon footprint of funeral services without major new infrastructure. Its slow adoption suggests that public discomfort around linking death and everyday amenities like pools can outweigh the modest environmental gains, at least initially. As pressure grows to decarbonize public services, officials like Guy Revans suggest such systems could become less controversial and more widely adopted.
- Redditch's crematorium has heated a public swimming pool using captured furnace heat since 2013.
- The technique relies on existing mercury-filtering heat exchangers already present in many crematoria.
- Public reaction was initially hostile in 2011, though the project later won a green award.
Source: wired.com — Chris Baraniuk, 2026-10-30
Published there as: “Crematoria Are Being Used to Heat Homes and Swimming Pools”
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