Ice Rink Switches to Natural Gas for Refrigeration, Power and Cool Savings
The Great Neck Park District has gone all-out to offer increased energy savings and a more enjoyable, comfortable indoor skating experience in its Parkwood Sports Complex in Great Neck, New York.
During renovations of the Andrew Stergiopoulos Ice Rink, park officials added a new natural gas engine-driven chiller to provide a smooth, reliable skating surface for patrons. The new ice-making system also saves energy, making it economically possible to extend the annual skating season into spring and fall months. As an added benefit, it provides air conditioning so the building is able to serve as a summer recreation center.
Making all this possible is a new TECOCHILL®CH-200x natural gas engine-driven chiller that provides 95 tons of cooling. The new chiller maintains a glycol-water mixture at 15°F as it circulates beneath the ice sheet at the rink. It replaced an aging electric chilling system that was costly to operate.
Electric to gas conversion
"People are looking for alternative ways to save energy," says Great Neck Park Superintendent Neil Marrin. "We're converting from electric chillers to gas."
"It's an energy conservation project," says Joe Weinschreider, Mechanical Engineer with Energy Concepts Engineering, P.C., Rochester, New York, which designed and managed the installation. "They're able to save a certain amount of money on their energy bill. Previously, they had aging electric chillers. They wanted something more reliable. Natural gas is a more competitive energy solution."
The new chiller, when re-set to a higher temperature, can also supply comfort cooling during the summer months, making it possible to use the rink as a recreation hall. And it can enable the park district to keep the rink open for skating beyond its usual October-to-March skating season.
"We found that with other rinks using natural gas-fired chillers, if operating costs are kept low enough, they have the potential to extend the skating season," says Jeff Glick, Regional Sales Manager for Tecogen, manufacturer of the chiller as well as the TECOGEN®CM-75, a 75 kW natural gas-fired cogeneration module also newly installed at the rink. "The #1 cost of operating a rink is making the ice. If we can cut this operating cost, they may want to open up a month earlier in the season. Because of the long hours an ice rink typically operates, the savings are large."
Electricity made by the generator offsets most of the facility's existing power usage. The generator is equipped with low emission controls.
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