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The Canadian Recreation Facilities Council (CRFC)
is a not for profit, nationally recognized
volunteer council who’s member associations
and associates have a common interest in
providing sustainable sport and recreation
facilities in Canada. The membership of the
CRFC consists of Provincial/Territorial
associations, and nationally recognized not
for profit and government affiliated
organizations who have interests similar to
the CRFC.
Hockey Canada is the sole governing body for
amateur hockey in Canada following the
merger in July 1994 of the Canadian Amateur
Hockey Association and Hockey Canada. Hockey
Canada operates national programming in
cooperation with 13 Branch Associations, the
Canadian Hockey League and the Canadian
Inter-University Sports. Hockey Canada
oversees the management of hockey
programming in Canada from the entry level
of the game to participation in
international competition, including World
Championships, the World Cup of Hockey and
Olympic Games.
Through the officers, branch presidents and
council directors, Hockey Canada provides
leadership to its members by establishing
the by-laws and regulations, rules of the
game and direction of its development
programs.
The CANMET Energy Technology Centre -
Varennes (CETC–Varennes) is one of three
research and innovation centres, managed by
the CANMET Energy Technology Branch of
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).
Established in 1992 under the name of
CANMET Energy Diversification Research
Laboratory (CEDRL), CETC-Varennes’
mission is to encourage targeted sectors of
the Canadian economy to reduce their
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, use energy
more sustainably, and improve their
innovation capabilities. CETC-Varennes
designs and implements technological
solutions and as well gathers and
disseminates knowledge in order to produce
and use energy in ways that are more
efficient and sustainable, which in turn
aids in stimulating the health of the
Canadian economy.
In 2002 Hockey Canada (HC) and provincial/territorial member
associations of CRFC saw a need to create a
database which contained information
specific to hockey arenas in Canada.
The purpose of the 2005 National Arena Census
was to update an existing database, identify
a more accurate number of arenas and to
bring to the forefront data to help identify
issues and challenges facing owner/operators
of arenas across Canada. One of these
challenges is the escalating energy costs
and the reduction of green house gas
emissions. Natural Resources Canada, CETC
Varennes identified that hockey arena refrigeration
processes represent over 50% of the energy
bills in these facilities.
In addition, the intensive integration of
new heating, ventilation, air-conditioning
and refrigeration (HVAC&R) technologies in
an arena can result in energy savings of up
to 60% compared to a standard arena setup.
The introduction of new refrigeration
practices and technologies can help reduce
this consumption by up to 40%.
It was identified that a majority of the arenas in the census are reaching the age
of 30 to 35 years. The life expectancy of an
ice arena is 32 years based on a study done
by
Manitoba Culture, Heritage Recreation and
Citizenship, 1995/96. With
increasing utility costs, the operating
costs of these arenas have risen to the
point where they are no longer sustainable
without retrofits or replacement to provide
energy efficiencies to assist in reducing
overall operating costs. Canadian Recreation
Facilities Council joined forces with Hockey
Canada with financial assistance from
Natural Resources Canada, CTEC Varennes to
conduct a National Arena Census.
The Census was a 16-question survey
distributed to arenas across Canada. The
census was also advertised by the 13
provincial/territorial member associations
and other national partners from June to
December of 2005 and was circulated to over
5000 practitioners in the recreation
facility operation field. The information
collected provides information on the state
and needs of each facility while updating
the existing arena information in the
National Arena Database that was created in
2002.
Communications:
There were four major communication channels
used to collect the data from across Canada.
The survey was mailed out initially as a
paper document to 2841 rinks across Canada
and was also available on the web in an
electronic format. Surveys were also sent
by e-mail and fax with the majority of
responses received by fax. Identified
duplications were deleted from the database,
and new or missing ice arenas were added,
resulting in a final total of 2,486 ice
arenas.
Survey Responses:
The overall response rate for this survey was 48.11%.
Interestingly through follow up phone calls
it was determined that some owner/operators
of ice arenas chose to partially reply to
the survey and only filled out basic
information. They felt that they did not
want the cost of operating their arenas made
public because if the information was used
for individual comparison of ice arenas they
felt their arena would not measure up to
what the national standard may be. They felt
they could be scrutinized for this. 7% of
arenas responding provided only partial
information. 1% of arenas responding refused
to provide any information. 51.89% chose not
to respond at all for other reasons such as
a lack of time, a lack of resources and
inaccessibility to the information that was
asked in the survey.
Analysis and Generalizations based on
surveys received:
Ø
The largest construction boom in Canada
occurred throughout the 1970’s with 756
arenas built in the early 1970’s. Of 1,857
arenas that supplied construction dates
1,350 arenas were constructed before 1980;
this translates to 47% of arenas being over
26 years of age. 594 arenas were constructed
before 1960; this translates into 32% of
arenas being over 36 years old. The oldest
arena was constructed in 1921.
Ø
86% of ice arenas in Canada are municipally
owned and operated.
Ø
Only 886 surveys were completed that
included complete energy costs. Of those the
combined energy costs varied from a low of
$42,130 for a 20,000 sq ft single sheet ice
arena to a high of $310,929 for a 100,000 sq
ft complex.
Ø 65% of ice arenas use ammonia as the primary
refrigerant, 25% use freon as the primary
refrigerant and 10% have natural ice.
Primary heating fuels are natural gas with
electricity being the second largest.
Ø
Energy efficiencies that are already in
place in some ice arenas include low
emissive ceilings, hot water heat recovery,
space heat recovery, brine pump scheduling
and brine ice temperature scheduling.
Ø 134 respondents indicated they had planned
major renovations to their refrigeration
system of $50,000 or more. 74% plan
renovations between 2006 and 2008, 14% plan
renovations between 2009 and 2012, 5% plan
renovations between 2013 and 2015 and 7%
plan renovations after 2015. The value of
these renovations nationally is in excess of
$335,000,000.
Ø 169 respondents indicated they had planned
major renovations to the building of
$100,000 to in excess of several million
dollars. 48% plan renovations in 2006, 21%
plan renovations in 2007, 15% plan
renovations in 2008, 4% plan renovations in
2009 and 12% plan renovations beyond 2010.
The value of these planned renovations
nationally is in excess of $530,000,000.
Ø
Even though in excess of $835,000,000 in
renovations are planned over the next 10
years this only applies to 303 respondents
which represents only 12% of the 2,486
arenas nationally. If this number is applied
to 1,350 of the 2486 arenas listed which are
reaching 26 to 36 years of age that
renovation value is in excess of $3.7
billion.
Conclusions:
Although the National Arena Census fell
short of the anticipated 80% return rate,
the 48.11% return rate provides a very usable
cross section of information. This
information shows that Arena infrastructure
is at a point in its lifecycle where within
the next few years massive amounts of
funding will be required both to maintain
and sustain this infrastructure. The burden
of this funding will lay with municipal
governments, as they are the owners of 86%
of the infrastructure.
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