Electricity Savings

REALice reduces electricity cost (hydro). Because of the changed properties of the water, which becomes denser and freezes faster, using less energy to freeze and to stay frozen too, operators are required to reset their brine/glycol settings 3-5°F warmer.
This results in tremendous energy savings and extends the life cycle of the refrigeration equipment. The electricity savings average 10% – 12 % per year.

 

  • Cold water = hard ice! ❄️🧊 Thanks to the generous support from the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre REC Program and the FortisAlberta Save Energy grant the Town of Raymond was able to install the REALice system at the Raymond Arena! This small system will result in BIG savings both in costs and energy use.

    Town of Raymond, Alberta

  • "With the technology we have today, and other people are using it and it's working, why wouldn't we try it?"

    Mayor Lorne Buis, Town of Foremost, AB

  • We were pleased with the installation of our ice using our REALice system and look forward to the energy efficiency savings for years to come.

    Mayor Gordon Reynolds, Town of Bow Island

  • We couldn’t be more excited about this new technology. With the facility shut down earlier this year, it was a no-brainer to utilize this time to install these devices that will help us save operating dollars after the first year of use. It only made sense to us, and it aligns with our Environmental Sustainability Plan.

    Mayor Bob Young, City of Leduc, AB

  • We were surprised by the results. The electricity savings exceeded what we estimated and we completely eliminated the use of gas to heat the resurfacing water. This definitely made the case for us to expand the usage of REALice to our other facilities.

    Cristina Guido, Acting Manager, Energy & Environment for the Town of Caledon

  • No spider cracks, fantastic ice, 5,000 hours less runtime. The biggest thing for us is the quality of the ice. If the quality went down, we wouldn’t be using the system.

    Mike Knight, Sardis Sports Complex, Chilliwack, BC

  • Thank you Sustainable Peterborough for the Energy Award for our REALiceCanada project at the Ennismore Community Centre! We can’t wait to put another system in in Lakefield!

    Township of Selywn - http://www.selwyntownship.ca

  • I’m happily surprised because it works. My compressors never run! I'm getting notes from my staff -- the compressors aren't running any more. I can't wait to see my next hydro bill.

    Larry Woodley, Manager George Bell Arena, Toronto - http://www.gbha.ca

  • While we normally prefer to see a full year of data first, to account for temperature changes and operational variables, we have seen results that align with estimated savings by REALice. The last three months of data show that we are on track for an annual savings of 90,000 kWh and that we are currently exceeding the anticipated natural gas savings of 900GJ per year. This translates into $18,000 in annual savings and a 2-year payback.

    Mark Boysen, Sustainability Manager, Saanich BC

  • REALice works and making great ice comes from good ice maintenance. There’s nothing else out there that we could put in so easily and save the money we’re saving.

    Fred Kilner, Fuller Lake Arena, Chemainus, BC.

  • Our staff and users are completely satisfied with the switch, in fact if we hadn’t told users about it they wouldn’t even have noticed the change. On top of that, we are already seeing reductions in our gas and electricity usage.

    Tony Liddle, Operations Manager, Kerry Park Rec Centre, Mill Bay

  • We have been using REALice for 5 years. The quality of the ice has been tremendous. The ice set point was raised from 19 degrees to 22/23 degrees. Our compressors dropped from running a total of 22-24 hours down to 11-13 hours a day. The best part was that our ice greatly improved. We estimate that we are saving about $12,000 to $15,000 per year on our ice package.

    Steven Wolf, Spartan Arena, Castleton VT

Case Study: Uxbridge Arena

The Uxbridge Arena is a seasonal twin pad in Ontario. They heat their water using natural gas, and like all rinks, the big electric costs come from their compressors, pumps and condensers. With REALice, they reduced their electricity consumption by 25% compared to when they used hot water to flood.

Elexicon Group performed the measurement and verification. The study compares the natural gas and electric spend before REALice and with REALice. You can read the full report here.


PROVING THE SAVINGS: THE MONITORING AND VERIFICATION STUDY

Internat Energy Solutions Canada verified the expected energy savings and cost reductions from the Town of Caledon’s Mayfield Recreation Complex REALice installation. Through the monitoring and verification study (M&V), it was found that the REALice device saves 84,188 kWh of electricity and 2,800 m3 of natural gas annually at the facility. This results in approximately $10,775 annual utility cost savings and avoided greenhouse gas emissions of 6,972 kg of carbon dioxide. The REALice device has eliminated the need to use natural gas to treat the floodwater. Instead, incoming cold water treated by the REALice system is used to flood the ice.

Kerry Park Arena, Mill Bay, BC – single pad:  

 

 

Chart: Average kWh/Day comparison before and after REALice: Average savings of 720 kWh/day.

Click here to Calculate Your Energy Savings

Ways to measure/calculate savings with REALice®

Comparing current to previous utility bills (monitoring kWH, GJ/therm / m3 of natural gas usage/oil usage)

Monitoring compressor loads and running time and comparing with previous logs

Install separate sub-meters on compressors and logging the run time and kWh usage, i.e with Eyedro Business Electricity Monitors 

Calculate savings by entering the temperature difference for resurfacing water & increase in brine temperature: www.realice.ca/calculate

Check out: Natural Gas Savings with REALice

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