Firm seeks money for arena heat saving study

CTV’s Jeff Keele has more on a Winnipeg company wanting to explore how heat wasted from city arenas could be used to reduce energy.

In order to keep the ice cool and ready for skaters at the St. Vital Arena, heat is forced outside of the building.

Now GEOptimize, a geothermal firm, is looking at ways to change that.

The company’s VP, Ed Lohrenz, said the city-owned arena, and many like it, wastes up to 1.5 million kilowatt hours of heat per year.

“Even when it’s -30, they’re throwing heat outside to maintain the ice,” said Lohrenz.

GEOptimize wants to score some funding for a feasibility study. Lohrenz said they have a way of harnessing the wasted heat while putting it to good use.

“That heat can be captured and stored in the ground and used when you need it.”

He said underground pipes would be built to store that captured heat, and then the heat is redirected back to the arena. Lohrenz said it could also be used to heat up to 60 or 70 nearby homes, even a school across the street.

This geothermal arena game plan could be duplicated beyond St. Vital to reduce the carbon footprint.

“There’s a total of about 40 or 50 ice rinks in Winnipeg, and multiply that by 75 or 100 homes per arena, that’s a lot of homes that could be heated.”

Lohrenz estimates switching to geothermal could see savings between 25 to 35 per cent for gas customers and 60 to 70 per cent for electric users.

While those are the savings, the study would also look at how much the pipes and related infrastructure would cost.

GEOptimize is asking Winnipeg City Council to back its request for money from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for the study. They’re also looking for funds from Efficiency Manitoba.

St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes supports the project.

“We’ve been trying to do something in one or more of these city arenas for years, looking at how do we capture this waste heat. So it’s great we’re working with this private firm,” said Mayes.