23 Jan Three Alberta Municipalities Order REALice; All will Benefit from TAME+ Program
VANCOUVER – The City of Camrose and the Towns of Innisfail and Rocky Mountain House have each ordered a 3-D printed, maintenance free, REALice system to treat all the resurfacing water used in their respective arenas. The Swedish technology is expected to be installed in February and in use right away.
Benefitting from the TAME+ program
In making the order, all three municipalities will benefit from the Government of Alberta’s TAME+ Program. Managed by the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre, the TAME+ program (Taking Action to Manage Energy) provides tools and funding to help municipalities understand how energy is used in their buildings, identify key savings opportunities, and implement retrofit projects.
With its REALice installation, the Max McLean Arena, owned by the City of Camrose, is expected to save over 75,000 kWh in electrical consumption, and over 9,000 m3 of natural gas — annually — by no longer using extremely hot water to resurface its ice.
Innisfail’s twin pad, the Innisfail Arena, is expected to save over 120,000 kWh in electricity and over 18,000 m3 of natural gas annually using the REALice technology.
And Rocky Mountain House’s twin pad arena, the Christenson Sports and Wellness Centre, is expected to save over 175,000 kWh in electrical consumption, and over 25,000 m3 of natural gas annually.
REALice takes the place of needing to use extremely hot water in ice resurfacing and maintenance. By removing the micro air bubbles that are inherent in water, the same way hot water does but without the hot water expense. Besides the expected increase in clarity in the ice, the arenas are bound to save energy in three ways:
- Not needing to heat their water up to 70 degrees Celsius anymore firstly,
- Not having to shave off the excess heat that hasn’t been applied and
- Thirdly, their ice will freeze faster, allowing them to increase the temperature of the brine under the ice surface by 2-3 degrees C – which will be a tremendous savings in unspent energy and ice plant wear and tear.
