Foothills County is continuing its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, electricity and natural gas use, with the completion of another project at the Scott Seaman Sports Rink.
Last year, a REALice device was installed at the facility, allowing the ice surface to be flooded without the use of extremely hot water. It was estimated the device would save 31,280 kWh in electricity and 245 GJ in natural gas per year.
This week, a new heat recovery project was introduced to the arena, the County announced in a press release. Heat waste from the ice plant will be recovered to use for space heating and water heating in the building. Before this, the excess heat was vented outside, a standard practice for any refrigeration system or plant.
The facility's natural gas consumption for space and water heating will be significantly reduced as a result.
This project is expected to save nearly 39,000 kWh of electricity and more than 2,800 GJ of natural gas per year as well as 171 tonnes of CO2. Annual utility dollar savings for this project are estimated to be $28,000.
“We at Foothills County are doing our best to identify and implement efficiency measures that will help reduce GHG emissions from our facilities and operations and save valuable public dollars,” said Reeve Delilah Miller in a press release.
“These newly completed projects are only a few of the many projects we have identified to help us achieve our efficiency goals and we thank the MCCAC for providing a substantial portion of funding to complete them.”
Foothills County also said that Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) have been installed on selected electric motors with the objective of varying the speed of pumps and blowers. This will ensure only the right amount of electricity is used as needed, eliminating electricity waste.
A Building Automation System (BAS) has also been installed to control most energy consuming systems in the facility with the aim of optimizing their schedules and energy performances.
Additions to Scott Seaman are part of the County's Energy and GHG Emissions Reduction Initiative which began with an energy audit in January 2020 and a comprehensive energy study that summer.
Like previous energy efficient projects, the newest addition was completed through a grant from the Recreation Energy Conservation program through the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC).
