The Strathcona Gardens Recreation Centre in Campbell River, Strathcona Regional District installed an ‘energy recovery loop’ which channels waste energy from the ice rink’s compressor room to heating the Centre’s pools.
Photo: Heat Pumps: Heat pumps remove the energy from the glycol circulating in the piping system and heat the swimming pools.
Success Story Snapshot
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Energy Savings / GHG Reductions: The energy saved by this project will be between 11,000 and 13,000 gigajoules of natural gas energy every year. This will amount to between 561,000 and 663,000 kg of CO2 reductions per year. |
Business case: The reduction of natural gas used will save local government $50,000-$60,000 annually. |
Co-benefits: Community and staff awareness and education of climate action increased. The project is an example of staff and elected officials commitment to GHG reductions. |
Total project cost: The total project cost was $ 310,000 – funded by Gas Tax and local governments. |
Project Summary

The Strathcona Gardens Recreation Centre is a local government operated multi-purpose recreation facility that includes two ice arenas, swimming and leisure pools and a variety of other fitness and recreational components. It is located in the City of Campbell River – in the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) on Vancouver Island.
In 2014 the SRD took
climate action at the building level by installing an energy recovery system at their recreation centre. The system consists of a six inch pipe full of glycol that runs in a continuous loop from the arena condensing tower to the heat pumps located near the recreation centre pools and back to the arena. Because of the circular route of the energy recovery system it is often simply called ‘the energy loop’.

The energy loop channels waste heat from the arena ammonia compressor room, where ice is made for the two rinks, to the swimming and leisure pools. It uses 600 feet of pipe. Energy is added to the loop at the compressor room and removed as needed to heat the pools.
“The whole system is really a very simple concept of absorbing waste heat or energy from one location and bringing it to an area where there is a demand” explains Lorne Parker, the Operations Manager of the Strathcona Gardens Recreation Complex. “In the recreation centre we are constantly cooling one area of our building while heating another.”
Parker initiated the retrofit by researching the system and by exploring funding opportunities. He received full support from the Strathcona Gardens Commission. The Commission oversees the operation of Strathcona Gardens Recreation Centre and consists of representatives from the City of Campbell River and Strathcona Regional District Electoral Area D.
The Strathcona Gardens Commission approved and awarded construction of the energy loop to a Victoria company in August 2013. The construction was completed March 13, 2014.
The energy loop is designed and sized in a way that will enable future expansions to connect to the current infrastructure at a significantly lower cost. Future expansions or connections to the energy loop could include air handling units, preheating domestic water and snow melting pits for the ice cleaning machines.