A spa at the heart of the energy solution

A decade of reflections

“The more I educate myself about what I have in front of me, the more I discover new things, which allows me to create links. We always do the best we can, there have been many improvements over time”. David Trinque, Senior Projects Director, is not shy when asked about energy consumption at Bota Bota.

Native of the South Shore, David is one of the first employees of Bota Bota with nearly 13 years on board, having worked on the conversion of the old ferry into a spa before its opening. Before joining the Bota Bota family, David devoted himself to an 8-year career in process mechanics, before studying electrical engineering. On the boat, innovations are plentiful, and David is happy to participate in their creation.

“The Emond family is very creative. The projects to improve the facilities never stop and there is no routine in my work, despite my 13 years on site! You must constantly be on the lookout for customer needs, and they do that very well.” David also likes to divide his time between his manual accomplishments and the reflection that these require. A way to participate in each project from the first stage, to the last.

The St. Lawrence River as a major ally

The St. Lawrence flows through the veins of the boat. As the Bota Bota nestles in its embrace, it also drinks from it. “We take energy from the water and not from the ground to cool the boat since the river is at the right temperature 8 to 9 months a year, in order to provide air conditioning,” explains David.

By using the river’s energy rather than an air conditioning system, the electricity savings are substantial.

Recycling energy in the gardens

“We have implemented a heat pump system in the gardens”, adds David. This method sends hot and cold energies to the other installations present on site. Thus, the heat emitted by the cooling of the cold bath will be used to heat the hot bath, and vice versa. “We are reducing greenhouse gases, which strongly contribute to global warming. The economy is huge.”

Thanks to the unusual location of Bota Bota, the topic of energy has always been in the foreground during every decision-making, every repair, and every extension process. Unlike a spa that would have a storefront, access to energy on the water is extremely limited. It therefore requires a lot of imagination to continue to operate a company of this magnitude with only 219 kilowatt hour available.

It’s hard to imagine this reality when you know that a café on the corner of the street consumes around 100 kilowatt hour. Today, the spa consumes about as much electricity as it did on Day 1 of its operations, despite significant expansions since it opened in 2010.

Hot, cold… relaxation

Thanks to clever mechanisms for reusing hot and cold on site, it only costs about $2 per visit in energy to welcome passengers on board. While the discourse of energy sobriety is rightly gaining momentum in the media, Bota Bota considers itself a key player in the reflection of a lasting solution.

“Energy in Quebec is not expensive. People don’t bother making recovery systems,” laments David. “In 2023, the technology is there, compared to 2010. The efficiency of materials has changed enormously, regarding batteries, heat exchangers to recover energy from the sun… It is a question which concerns us. We are constantly in the heart of the matter”. The question of consumption is vast and can easily make our head spin. There is a very fine line between personal necessities and energetic selfishness. If a residential hot tub requires around 10 kilowatt hour to operate, Bota Bota, by logical calculation, ends up consuming much less and presents itself as the most sensible wellness and energy offering. If you choose to take public transport instead of your car in the morning, Bota Bota is the equivalent in the world of wellness.