Mechanical Piping Plumbing Journal 2008

For Greg Scott, director of major projects with the City of Richmond, which is building the $178-million Olympic oval and will own it after the 2010 Games are over, “It’s nice to apply [heat recovery] on such a large scale.” The scale of the ice plant being installed to freeze the 400-metre speed-skating track will be so large that Scott said the facility will need only about 40 per cent of the heat energy that it generates. However, after the Games, when the oval is converted into a community sports facility with two Olympic-sized ice rinks, basketball courts, a running track and other fitness facilities, the building’s heat exchanger will capture about 90 per cent of the ice plant’s waste heat, which should look after all the building’s heating needs when combined with other green touches being added. Scott said that it has become simple economic argument to convince project owners to use the technology. If they invest in heat-recovery technology, over the long term they reduce the facility’s reliance on heating fuel — the cost of which is expected to continue rising — and they can recover the capital cost in a relatively short period, he said. “These are great opportunities, and easy decisions for decision-makers to make.” “I like to tread lightly on the environment,” he added. “From my perspective, if we can introduce new technologies — and these aren’t new any more — to save energy and not pollute the environment, then it’s common sense.” Blair McCarry, a principal at Stantec Consulting and Richmond’s consulting engineer on the Olympic oval project, said such heat recovery is a particularly good solution for B.C. to lighten its greenhouse-gas load because we use a lot of relatively clean hydroelectric power. The operators of ice-refrigeration plants, airconditioning or other cooling units can take the hydroelectric power they use in their primary activity, and use waste heat from that activity to displace at least some of their need for fossil fuels. McCarry added that for every unit of electricity that a consumer uses to power some form of cooling equipment, from an ice plant to air conditioner, a heat exchanger “is getting three or four units of heat.” For an ice-refrigeration system, McCarry said the heat-recovery process is simple. The system’s piping, embedded in concrete, absorbs heat into its subzero-temperature “brine” — a solu- tion of calcium chloride - from the ice’s water before it freezes, and from the heat load placed on the ice from the air above, from lights beaming down, the Zamboni and the human warmth of athletes and spectators to keep the ice at a constant temperature. McCarry said the brine’s temperature can rise as much as 40 degrees — from minus 11˚C to plus 30˚C — as it works its way through the piping. The refrigeration system takes the hot brine and runs it VISIT US AT www.wolseleyinc.ca Across the nation we are the trusted partner of contractors, governments, and construction and industrial companies; supplying you with the materials you need for building, remodeling and repair work. With over 257 branches coast to coast and more than 350,000 products, Wolseley is the most diverse supplier of products and Customer Solutions in Canada. LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU BRITISH COLUMBIA DUNCAN ABBOTSFORD BURNABY VANCOUVER VANCOUVER KELOWNA KAMLOOPS PRINCE GEORGE VICTORIA NANAIMO FORT ST JOHN CRANBROOK ALBERTA RED DEER LLOYDMINSTER GRANDE PRAIRIE EDMONTON CALGARY CANMORE LETHBRIDGE FORT MCMURRAY MEDICINE HAT SASKATCHEWAN SASKATOON PRINCE ALBERT REGINA YORKTON MANITOBA WINNIPEG BRANDON NORTHERN ONTARIO DRYDEN KENORA THUNDER BAY The name the world builds on www.wolseleyinc.ca Mechanical Contractors Associations of Alberta, B.C., Manitoba & Saskatchewan 2008 55 http://www.wolseleyinc.ca

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mechanical Piping Plumbing Journal 2008

Mechanical Piping Plumbing Journal 2008 Contents MCA Canada Chairman MCA Alberta MCA British Columbia MCA Manitoba MCA Saskatchewan Alberta British Columbia Saskatchewan Manitoba Demographics & Management Employees Insurance – The Pros & Cons of Subguard® Construction Sector Council Data Richmond Olympic Oval Uses the Ice to Heat Things Up B.C.’s Hydrogen Highway™: The Hydrogen + Fuel Cell Alternative The Manitoba Hydro Tower Project Index to Advertisers

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