A 50-year-old arena in Dieppe, New Brunswick, is on course to slash energy use by 44% and greenhouse gas emissions by 46% after a major energy retrofit.
Built in 1972, the Arthur-J.-LeBlanc Centre is home to two ice rinks, one of them Olympic sized. The arena proudly hosts community activities like hockey and figure skating during winter, and the rinks are drained in summer, opening the space up for sports like ball hockey.
The centre is also emerging as the flagship of the Dieppe’s sustainable growth efforts, with the local government leveraging capital from the Green Municipal Fund’s (GMF) Community Buildings Retrofit Initiative (CBRI), a C$167.7-million program aimed at boosting the energy performance of community infrastructure.
CBRI’s dual goals are to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions andhelp communities cut their operating costs, Sharon Levitsky, project coordinator with the GMF’s capacity development team, told a recent webinar.
She added that roughly 70% of all municipal facilities in Canada are more than 20 years old, and nearly a quarter of them were built in the 70s. “One in three community or cultural facilities in Canada are deemed very poor, or in fair condition, meaning that they’re either in need of repair, requiring upgrades in the next five to 10 years, or aging and will require action in the medium to long term,” Levitsky said.
More than one-third of municipal energy consumption comes from indoor ice rinks and community and recreation centres, she added. As long as fossil fuels are the main source of heat and power—as is the case with LeBlanc—energy costs and GHG emissions both run high.
But “repairs are costly,” Levitsky said. With limited resources available, it makes good sense to pick a “two-in-one option” and build energy efficiency into plans for upgrading and maintaining facilities.
Seizing the opportunity to work with the GMF, the City of Dieppe undertook the first of three steps required by the CBRI: a city-wide evaluation of municipal property, funded by GMF, to pinpoint worst offenders for energy consumption and establish a baseline of overall energy consumption.
The LeBlanc Centre was revealed to be Dieppe’s worst energy gobbler and heavyweight emitter, generating 850 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The city then carried out a series of feasibility studies, all funded by the CBRI. Realizing that a great deal of energy was being lost via the refrigeration system, Dieppe is now working on a heat recovery system for the arena, part of a 16-point Vers Net Zéro/Toward Net Zero capital plan that also includes heat pump installation and upgraded doors and windows.
The project falls under the CBRI’s definition of a “greenhouse gas impact retrofit”, a shovel-ready project that reduces GHGs by at least 30% in the short term. It is partly funded by GMF, via a $1.5-million loan and $500,000 grant, said GMF Project Officer Christian Karanga.
