Renovated, expanded, and energy efficient, Mundy Park Pool in Coquitlam has proven wildly popular with the community since reopening in May of 2025.
Pool has doubled in size while reducing energy and emissions
Part of our series on Power Smart Champions: businesses, homes, and institutions — large and small — recognized for their efficient use of electricity and reduction in their reliance on fossil fuels.
Kids are thrilled by the changes at Mundy Park Pool in Coquitlam — a lazy river, floating obstacle course, and climbing wall will do that — but it's what’s hidden that most impresses Ryan Voon.
Voon is the climate and energy manager for the City of Coquitlam, and it's his job to look both for ways to reduce operational costs and Co2 emissions across the city. Mundy Park Pool, a formerly aging facility that opened in the early 1970s, is a big win via annual energy savings and an 80% reduction in fossil fuel emissions.
And that matters. Despite being operational only in the summer, Mundy Park pool was the third largest source of emissions in the city's building portfolio. The city's first low-carbon outdoor pool, the revitalized pool uses a hybrid air source heat pump system and pool covers that help prevent loss of heat through evaporation.
"It's double the size of the previous facility, and it's beautiful," says Voon. "There's a lap pool, a lazy river, one of those climbing walls from the pool, a bench area to watch your kids from, bike parking out front, and even a few benches to sit on alongside the forest. The pool is in a very large urban forest nestled within Coquitlam, and folks are coming from other areas to check it out. You can hang out in the pool and then walk through a forest — you don’t see that kind of opportunity at a public pool every day."
Mundy Park isn't your typical recreation hub. At 178 hectares, it's just under half the size of Stanley Park. A 5.5 kilometre multi-use community pathway encircles the park, which houses an astonishing variety of facilities, including a disc golf course, hiking and mountain bike paths, lacrosse box, softball/baseball diamonds, and pickleball courts.
The renovated, new-look pool opened in May of 2025 and in its first year drew over 106,000 admissions, including 1,200 in swimming lessons and camps. It doesn't hurt that admission to the pool is just $2, and the zero-depth entries in all three pools make it easier for all ages and abilities to enter.
That focus on accessibility was one big reason the pool design earned a B.C. Recreation and Parks Association (BCRPA) award for facility projects over $6 million, plus a separate award (the 2026 Bill Woycik Outstanding Facility Award) from the Recreation Facilities Association of BC (RFABC). Both awards cited the project's innovation and excellence in meeting community needs.
Did you know? Mundy Park is home to the Coquitlam Reds, a high-performance youth baseball team that has produced numerous Major League Baseball prospects including Larry Walker, the former Montreal Expos star from Maple Ridge who's an MLB Hall of Famer and a National League MVP. Want to catch the Reds' next young stars? They host the Under-18 AAA Canadian Baseball Championships at the park in August 2026.
An air source heat pump and high-efficiency gas boiler heat the pool's water while another heat pump provides heating and cooling for the pool building.
Heat pump technologies becoming a go-to for pools
Heat pump systems for pools are growing in popularity in the Lower Mainland, including at New Westminster's all-electric təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre.
"Heat pumps are becoming more prominent because of the efficiencies of the technology," says Voon. "We're exploring them for the Burke Mountain Community Centre. We're striving to achieve the Zero Carbon Building Design Standard there, and the community centre is slated to utilize heat pump technologies."
At Mundy Park pool, an air source heat pump and high-efficiency gas boiler are used to heat water, while an air source heat pump is used both for heating and cooling of the building interior. The design and retrofit improvements were funded through the City's Climate Action Reserve and a CleanBC grant.
In converting streetlights across Coquitlam to energy-saving LEDs, the City annually saves the equivalent of powering 193 homes for a year.
How BC Hydro helps Coquitlam with its sustainability goals
Under Coquitlam's Environmental Stability Plan and recently approved Climate Action Plan, the key emission reduction target is 45% below 2007 levels by 2030, with a carbon neutrality goal set for 2050. Voon works closely with BC Hydro key account manager Meaghan Fahey to explore ongoing options for energy efficiencies and emissions reductions.
"Meaghan has been a really great person to work with," says Voon. "We were just chatting yesterday &mdash we're pretty much colleagues at this point, even though we're in two different organizations. It shows the sort of collaborative efforts that we at the City have with BC Hydro, which supplies affordable energy but also supports us by funding studies and providing expertise."
Energy studies are an important tool in facilities planning, providing a holistic evaluation of energy-saving and emission reduction opportunities early in the project life cycle. Voon says the City tries to extend the life of buildings and facilities while at the same time finding ways to reduce CO2 emissions and increase energy efficiency.
"The studies help us understand where the best opportunities are in terms of capital investments, asset replacements, asset renewals and retrofits, to ensure that we can lower our energy use while still delivering high-quality services to the community," he says.
Other recent moves toward sustainability include:
- An LED streetlight conversion that has produced estimated energy savings equivalent to powering 193 homes. Coquitlam joins Burnaby as being among the first municipalities in Metro Vancouver to have all of its street lights switched to LED. And by 2023, BC Hydro also wrapped up its conversion of 2,000 street lights on wooden poles in Coquitlam, changing from the older high-pressure sodium (HPS) luminaires to LEDs.
- A shared micromobility program, with e-bikes and e-scooters provided by Lime, is proving to be very popular. So far, more than 175,000 trips have been completed over an average distance of 1.85 km, replacing an estimated 52,000 to 61,000 car trips. An impressive 40% of trips happen at night when transit service is reduced, and about 13% of those trips now connect into Port Moody, which selected Lime as their operator in late 2025.
- The City's Green Fleet Strategic Plan, which calls for fleet transition to low and zero-emission vehicles as each vehicle comes up for replacement. So far, the fleet has 49 EVs and 42 fleet dedicated electric vehicle chargers. Low carbon fuels, such as renewable diesel, are also being used to help reduce fleet emissions.
Did you know? You can travel by e-bike or e-scooter all the way from Lafarge Lake SkyTrain Station and Town Centre Park to the border with Port Moody in protected lanes thanks to the award-winning Guildford Way street project. Raised or concrete curbs now separate people riding from higher-speed vehicular traffic. Micromobility options are perfect for shorter trips and require a lot less electricity to operate than a car, with the bonus of getting exercise and fresh air.