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ELK RIVER ICE ARENA — ICE SYSTEM EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br />ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES <br />General <br />Ice arena facilities use large amounts of energy. With high <br />energy use come opportunities to apply new technologies that <br />may reduce energy use and the opportunity to explore <br />technologies that focus on sustainable and /or renewable energy <br />sources. This section briefly discusses several alternative energy <br />sources that the City may want to consider when the facility is <br />renovated. <br />Greenhouse Gas Reduction <br />Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are increasingly being <br />considered when choosing between facility /process <br />alternatives. Although there is not currently a cost associated <br />with greenhouse gas emissions, there is the potential that there <br />will be. Alternatives with lower GHG emissions therefore have <br />the potential to have lower on -going costs. At the New Hope <br />Arena, the primary sources of GHG emissions are natural gas <br />combustion and electricity use. In addition, there are GHG <br />emissions associated with the manufacture and use of the <br />refrigerant R -22. <br />Geothermal <br />Geothermal exchange systems offer numerous opportunities for <br />energy savings in an ice arena application. Geothermal systems <br />are considered a renewable energy source and have been the <br />focus of a recent wave of funding opportunities from the <br />Federal Government. A detailed analysis should be performed <br />when considering incorporating geothermal systems with the <br />ice system improvements. <br />Construction of several geothermal type ice systems have <br />recently been completed using traditional well type systems <br />(e.g. Burnsville Ice Center in 2010) and non - traditional <br />geothermal systems (e.g. Brooklyn Park in 2010). The Brooklyn <br />Park Arena project used the City's well water source as a <br />geothermal sink in place of the traditional well field, saving over <br />$200,000 in construction costs and increasing the energy <br />savings. As these projects "season" or are "fine tuned ", <br />extremely valuable information will be available on lowering <br />energy use and GHG emissions to apply to the next generation <br />of ice rink systems. The City will benefit from the information <br />collected on these projects. <br />Photo P -31: Well drilling rig for a <br />geothermal system. <br />U Stevens 27 <br />