By September 2025, new pool equipment sold in California must include controls that adjust their energy usage to non-peak hours. The state energy commission says that once all pools transition to this equipment, the reduction in emissions will be equivalent to getting 85,000 gas-powered cars off the road.
Andrew McAllister, lead commissioner for appliance standards, said that for Californians who own them, swimming pools are the single largest energy consumer in the residential sector. With that, they鈥檙e also the largest energy cost.
鈥淚f we manage that demand 鈥� all those pools add up to significant resources to help the reliability of the grid,鈥� McAllister said.
Justin Wiley, vice president of government relations for the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, said California is among the states with the most swimming pools in the country.
鈥淐alifornia has over 1.3 million in-ground pools that have already been installed and they are on pace to do 鈥� over 15,000 new pools each year,鈥� Wiley said.
He described the standard as 鈥渁 positive step in helping save consumers money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.鈥�
The new standard is one step towards California鈥檚 goal to make up to 7,000 megawatts of electricity available through technologies that use energy more efficiently. For context, California ISO reports that a single megawatt
McAllister said technologies that adapt energy usage to non-peak times also help ensure that the energy used is coming from a cleaner source.
鈥淣ot all carbon-free energy supply or renewable energy supply is intermittent, but much of it is,鈥� McAllister said. 鈥淪olar and wind are inherently intermittent 鈥� so we don't have to operate our pools all the time, but we can operate them when it's cheap and convenient.鈥�
Right now, McAllister said there鈥檚 no federal standard for flexible-demand technologies, so California has a 鈥渨ide open field to innovate.鈥� He said the state will continue to adopt flexible demand technologies in other sectors as a way to boost the reliability of the state鈥檚 grid.
鈥淐lean electricity is the backbone of our zero carbon future,鈥� McAllister said, 鈥淲e're going to have new loads that historically weren't electric.鈥�
Wiley said California is the first state the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance has worked with on a standard like this one.
鈥淎lthough, we anticipate that there are going to be other states that will be looking to California to see how this process has worked, how well the implementation phase has gone,鈥� Wiley said. 鈥淲e do see this as, kind of, the blueprint, and 鈥� I think other states are looking to this as a blueprint as well.鈥�
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