Sustainability in Action: Taking the Heat
All Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games generate a certain amount
of heat. So what happens to all that hot air? At the Vancouver 2010
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, many of the venues are taking
the waste heat and reusing it.
What does recapturing waste heat entail? The process starts in the design phase by looking for opportunities. As part of VANOC’s sustainability objectives, all venue design teams were guided by LEED green building principles; the venue design teams were charged with creating energy efficiencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and electrical energy use. As a result, many new or renovated venues found ways to reuse waste heat.
The Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park venue (home to curling for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and wheelchair curling for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games) is an example of where an integrated heat recovery solution was successfully implemented. Hillcrest, which will feature a new icesheet, is next to a future 50-metre pool in a new multi-purpose community recreation and aquatics centre. After the Games, the heat generated by the ice rink’s refrigeration plant will be captured and used to heat the pool. The development, a legacy for the people of Vancouver, will be operated by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, which will enjoy the cost savings of reusing waste heat.
The athlete villages in Vancouver and Whistler will tap waste heat from their municipal wastewater treatment systems and redirect it to provide space and domestic hot water heating.
The equation, however, does not always work perfectly. The Whistler Sliding Centre, a seasonal operation, will use about 20 per cent of the heat captured from its refrigeration plant to heat the plant building itself and a guest services building. Because of the Sliding Centre’s relative isolation, there is no immediate use for the rest of the recaptured heat. In the future, as the Resort Municipality of Whistler implements its Sustainable Energy Strategy, this heat source could be connected to a district heating and cooling system.
Find out more about how VANOC and our partners are capturing and reusing waste heat.
What does recapturing waste heat entail? The process starts in the design phase by looking for opportunities. As part of VANOC’s sustainability objectives, all venue design teams were guided by LEED green building principles; the venue design teams were charged with creating energy efficiencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and electrical energy use. As a result, many new or renovated venues found ways to reuse waste heat.
The Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park venue (home to curling for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and wheelchair curling for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games) is an example of where an integrated heat recovery solution was successfully implemented. Hillcrest, which will feature a new icesheet, is next to a future 50-metre pool in a new multi-purpose community recreation and aquatics centre. After the Games, the heat generated by the ice rink’s refrigeration plant will be captured and used to heat the pool. The development, a legacy for the people of Vancouver, will be operated by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, which will enjoy the cost savings of reusing waste heat.
The athlete villages in Vancouver and Whistler will tap waste heat from their municipal wastewater treatment systems and redirect it to provide space and domestic hot water heating.
The equation, however, does not always work perfectly. The Whistler Sliding Centre, a seasonal operation, will use about 20 per cent of the heat captured from its refrigeration plant to heat the plant building itself and a guest services building. Because of the Sliding Centre’s relative isolation, there is no immediate use for the rest of the recaptured heat. In the future, as the Resort Municipality of Whistler implements its Sustainable Energy Strategy, this heat source could be connected to a district heating and cooling system.
Find out more about how VANOC and our partners are capturing and reusing waste heat.
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