Kamloops Arenas Reduce Carbon Footprint

Source Name

: City of Kamloops

The City of Kamloops is committed to implementing strategies that reduce its impact on the environment. To that end, the City has eliminated the use of hot water in its ice resurfacers (Zambonis) in four of its ice rinks and has plans to add another rink to the energy-reduction program in 2020.

The ice resurfacers at City ice rinks have traditionally used large quantities of hot water, which is produced by natural-gas-fired boilers. By switching to cold-water ice floods, the City has been able to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. The natural gas saved in 2019 by using cold water for flooding the ice is equivalent to 1,807 gigajoules, and the resulting energy cost savings was $48,900.

The four rinks participating in the program are at Brocklehurst Arena, McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre (two ice sheets), and Valleyview Arena. The City plans to add Memorial Arena to the program in 2020, and Sandman Centre will be added to the program in the future.

“Ice rink facilities can be very energy intensive,” said Jeff Putnam, the City’s Parks and Civic Facilities Manager. “This change in our operating procedure has reduced our carbon footprint by the equivalent of 20 residential homes heated by natural gas each year.”
Environmental leadership is one of City Council’s priorities in its 2019–2022 Strategic Plan, which states “The City of Kamloops leads by example by making sustainable choices to minimize our environmental footprint.”