If you live in an area of the country where the sun shines a lot of the days of the year, have you ever considered heating your pool by taking advantage of the sun? Designing a solar heated swimming pool is a fairly easy undertaking and can not only save you money on electricity but can also help save the environment!

The key to a successful solar pool installation is to placing it correctly in your yard so you can take advantage of the sun. Even in areas of the country where it's cooler – you can also use the sun to cut down on your heating cools and keep your pool at a temperature that makes for comfortable swimming temps.

Unless you live in an extremely hot and almost continually sunny climate, you want to place your pool so it gets as much direct sunlight as possible. To take full advantage of the natural sunlight you should place your pool with a southern or western exposure.

In addition to pool placement, another way to help a solar-heated swimming pool retain its energy is by choosing a dark-colored bottom for the pool. It's a well-known fact that dark colors absorb heat and then slowly release it. A light color pool bottom would reflect the heat – however, if you live in an extremely hot climate and don't want the pool to get bathwater warm, you might opt for the light colored pool bottom.

To install a complete solar pool heated unit, you want to trim any overhanging tree branches to make sure you take full advantage of the direct sunlight as it hits throughout the day. You might want to keep a few shady spots – on the northern side of the pool – in the event you want to take advantage of the shade and lounge around on rafts.

Robbi Hess is a blogger/editor for www.poolinfosite.com where she blogs about all things pool-related.