The sustainable Spa
Over the last 15 years many spas and wellness centres are being opened; basically they are characterized by a wet area (sauna, steam bath, pool, hydromassage, hydro therapy, where often thermal water is being used), connected to another area for treatments and equipped with a relax zone. At the same time, many structures are being built both as independent facility and inside fitness clubs, hotels, resorts and thermal centres (in Italy, since 2000 the description of "thermal centres" and "spas" should be used only for structures that work with thermal water and its derivatives). Over the years many structures have been built, sometimes badly though, because installation problems have been underestimated and power-consuming equipments have been used. Difficult procedures to assess exact investment caused more damages than benefits: most investors suffered losses or, at least, their returns did not correspond to expectations. However, something has changed in the past years: now it's clear that the Spa should be properly built according to the market of reference, the structure it's built in, the equipments and the function it's supposed to have. Nowadays, though, engineers still face disproportionate requests for the customer's real needs, as they mostly try to "amaze pepole", regardless of management consequences.
The sustainable Spa from the energy point of view
The financial and economic crisis started in 2008 clearly affected the design of areas demanding huge investments and power consumption. One of the (positive) effects of the crisis is the increased awareness of power consumption: designers and managers think a lot about the spa structure right from the preliminary phase, in order to build more sustainable centres, maybe less effective from the aesthetical point of view, but efficient, that can offer wellness to the customer while being cost-effective for the management. Sustainability is connected to the use of certain technologies, e.g. cogeneration systems or heat pumps with solar panels etc., and also the use of local materials or environmentally friendly products.
Here is a selection of products for wellness centres that match design, functionality and energy conservation
