Energy-Smart Arena Operators Welcome Cold Snaps

Innovative arena coolers reduce operating costs by using winter temperatures to cool ice and can have a payback period of less than four years.

In most Alberta homes and businesses, plunging winter temperatures mean soaring energy costs. But for some pioneering arena operators, the colder it gets outside, the better.

Municipal arenas in Stettler, Ponoka, Vegreville and St. Paul have recently installed a new, made-in-Alberta technology that taps cold outdoor temperatures to bring down the cost of making arena ice. The installations are being partially funded through interest-free loans from the ME first! program.

"We're using mother nature to make ice," says Rick Owen of Stettler-based Rink Pro Controls, which developed the Enviro-Cooler system. "Why run expensive compressors to make ice when it's 20 below outside? Our system operates at about 10 per cent of the cost of a typical compressor system."

Instead of the normal practice of using compressors to chill and circulate brine through a slab under the ice, Enviro-Cooler pipes the brine outside the building, where it is cooled by a large fan, whenever the air temperature dips below -7 degrees Celsius. The colder the outside temperature, the less the compressors are used and the more energy efficient the system becomes.

"It works very well, especially when it gets colder outside," says Lee Penner, recreation director for the Town of Stettler, where the system was first tested. "In January last year, the compressors in the ice plant were often running about two hours a day, instead of the usual 16 or 17 hours." For the entire month, the compressors ran for 253 hours, compared with 1,026 the previous January, before the system was installed.

"It's very simple. That's the beauty of it," says Owen, noting Rink Pro controls automatically adjust the system. "It's essentially an actuator valve and a fan, and we're using reconditioned equipment from the oilpatch."

"The market is everywhere that has a cold enough climate. In Alberta, there are at least 200 arenas that are feasible for the Enviro-Cooler. With two pads of ice, the system should pay for itself in about five years in central Alberta and in as little as three-and-a-half years further north."

"It is gratifying to see the successful implementation of made in Alberta technology and its contributions to energy savings," said Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Renner. "This is a good example of how the ME first! program is helping communities to find innovative ways to save energy for the benefit of all residents."