Beneath Olympic ice: Green controls and cost savings

LAKE PLACID | A week into FISU 2023 world-class competition on Olympic Center rinks, ice will shift from a softer figure skating surface to the more rigid ice for hockey. The switch is made with computer controls that monitor ice temperature and conditions with precision. It can take several hours for the surface to adjust. But systems in the new Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) refrigeration plant are state-of-the-art, having been rebuilt from the floor up. Beginning in 2021, all of the ice -- sheets in the James C. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval, the USA, 1980 Herb Brooks and 1932 Jack Shea arenas -- was removed, the pipes torn out. Rinks stood vacant for over a year while the guts, controls and 50-year-old compressors, pumps and chillers were replaced. For Eric Martin, Olympic Center facilities superintendent, the new system is a refrigeration engineer's marvel. Having come from the Finger Lakes region nearly six years ago, Martin was hired by Lake Placid's ice expert, the late Denny Allen, who ran the rinks for decades. Martin learned the ropes at ORDA with Allen's guidance and tutelage of the late Tom Borden, who had managed the HVAC/R systems in the Olympic Center for 50 years. Martin helped choose the new equipment. Quiet and focused, he navigates the underbelly of ORDA's ice beast with ease. "I do the behind the scenes stuff that nobody sees," he smiled, eyes twinkling. "The stairs down to the refrigeration system are steep," he warned. "Kind of like going into a submarine." And it is similar, minus a hatch entrance and the shallow angle of a ladder. As proposed several years ago, the new industrial equipment is both greener and exceedingly more cost effective. It was a cost ORDA estimated at $35 million. Martin stopped to point out the energy meters that he checks every day at 8:30 a.m. "It's a huge energy savings," Martin affirmed. "The cost savings in a 24-hour period ranges from $1,000 to $2,800." That is $1,000 to $2,800 per day less than the old equipment? "Yes," he said. And waste heat from the refrigeration process is put to use to melt ice and snow on the Olympic Center sidewalk. "Refrigeration is the absence of heat," Martin explained. "We used to send all of that heat to the cooling towers, you could see it rise as steam. Now a lot of that heat keeps the sidewalks clear, which cuts down on labor and is a safety measure for people coming and going." The plant that puts ice on every rink is a gargantuan beast of pipes and pumps and tanks. Martin pointed to the four huge compressors ensconced in the heat transfer system. They run off 600-horsepower motors. "The refrigerant we use now is considered green," he said. "We used to use Freon, which had a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1,800. Now we have a refrigerant that is less than 600 GWP." GWP is a measure used in the HVAC industry to compare impact of different gases. It calculates the energy absorption of one ton of gas relative to one ton of carbon dioxide (CO2). Complex engineering aside, the new equipment is color coded. Four huge tanks the size of a truck are a deep slate-gray with bright yellow pipes that lift from each unit and turn through the space above. The industrial gray floor shines, no dust, no grime. Past the heat extraction system, chillers direct refrigeration to gold-colored rink pumps mounted on red platforms. There are four, three labeled by rink plus one extra, and two larger units for the Oval. "I managed to get a spare," Martin said. "We run the Oval pumps one at a time, and try to watch the hours. It will save wear." All of the pipes that deliver coolant to the rinks were replaced. There are 38 miles of new piping in the Oval alone. Martin said the decision to manage the ice at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid was a strategic career move, one that Denny Allen eyed some time before the final hire. "My wife, Maura, and I vacationed here so much, and we'd go home and say 'why?'" As the superintendent's post came open, the final interview Allen sought was with Mrs. Martin. "He knew I would start work before our daughter had finished high school, and he wanted to make sure my wife was okay with that," Martin recalled fondly. "She gave her blessing." Soon after he accepted the post, ORDA started looking to update its ice plant, and Martin helped choose the system with the engineers. He manages all of the rinks now using sophisticated software that indicates on a flat screen on the wall how each piece of equipment is operating and what temperature all gas and liquids, hot side and cold side, are at in real time. He can use computer input set the ice, which is a constant to watch through competitive events like the FISU World University Games. Sometimes the ice surface has to change overnight. Ice for figure skating is a bit softer, except for couples ice dancing, Martin said. Hockey ice is more rigid. And ice for curling, which isn't taking place at the Olympic Center in these games, is colder than hockey by about 10 degrees. "We would like to make certified curling ice," Martin said. ORDA's goal to extend skating season on the Speed Skating Oval will likely achieve two additional weeks on either side of winter's season. "I'll always be fighting Mother Nature," Martin acknowledged. "But we have more control of the ice in this weather," he added. "The Oval held up with the 45 to 48 degree air temperatures." The busy schedule sets another, more predictable, pace. With FISU competition through Jan. 22, rinks will require several timed adjustments. Then, just days after FISU games close, Empire State Winter Games begin. There are Can-Am Hockey games on the schedule. ECAC Men's Hockey rolls into the Olympic Center's Herb Brooks Arena mid-March. And the International Skating Union (ISU) World Synchronized Skating Championships begin on March 31. They are expected to draw thousands to Lake Placid. Inside the humming Olympic ice plant, Martin said he's hoping to expand on the green, cost-saving controls in the future. "People know we are greener than we were before. But we can take it one more step," he said. "This is a fun job."

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Beneath Olympic ice: Green controls and cost savings

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