Case Study: Sharing (Heat) is Caring

Case Study: Sharing (Heat) is Caring

Deep Emissions Reduction Achieved at Kitsilano Community Centre

Community and recreation centres are often a major source of emissions in a municipality’s building portfolio, but recreation centres with ice rinks offer a big opportunity for emissions reductions. Typically, the heat generated by the refrigeration plant of an ice rink is rejected to the outdoors through a cooling tower. If the refrigeration plant’s waste heat is diverted to the centre’s HVAC system, a big emissions reduction is possible when the ice rink is in operation. This opportunity, along with a multitude of other energy conservation and recommissioning measures, were identified by Prism Engineering in 2015 when they were engaged by the City of Vancouver to conduct a recommissioning report for the Kitsilano Community Centre. In 2017, the City decided to proceed with the recommendations provided by Prism, including the installation of two heat recovery chillers, improvements to the HVAC and refrigeration plant control systems, and re-piping of the boiler plant to enhance condensing efficiency. After the work was completed and commissioned in 2018, the subsequent emissions reduction amounted to an impressive 82%! In 2016, a similar set of energy conservation measures, with very similar emissions reduction results, was implemented at the Karen Magnussen Recreation Centre in North Vancouver..