Timeline: 2023 onwards
King’s new Township-Wide Recreation Centre is Canada’s first combined aquatics and ice-sports community facility to achieve Zero Carbon Building Design Certification by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).
This certification is awarded for new constructions demonstrating climate leadership through innovative carbon reduction strategies and optimal building performance. Considerations include operational carbon reduction measures, efforts to reduce the building’s embodied carbon, energy efficiency, grid-friendly design measures, and innovation.
Key features of the Township-Wide Recreation Centre design:
- All electric building systems: All building systems, including rooftop ventilation, dehumidification, boilers, arena heat rejection, and air source heat pumps, connect to an integrated thermal energy network. Every possible effort is made to recover waste heat. This means less heat energy is being rejected into the atmosphere, operational efficiency is greater, and less energy is required to run the facility.
- Innovative CO2 Arena Refrigeration System: CO2 is a naturally occurring refrigerant, usually used in industrial applications. King Township chose to pursue this system because it produces high-grade waste heat, which can then be cycled through the building’s thermal network, effectively providing free heat energy.
- Minimal dependence on gas-fired equipment: The building uses almost no gas-fired equipment, which means greenhouse gas emissions have been effectively eliminated.
- Daylight Optimization: Ample daylighting has been strategically incorporated into the design to enhance energy efficiency and create a bright, inviting atmosphere.
- Geothermal Readiness: The design includes the coordination of an open-loop geothermal well installation, providing a foundation for future retrofitting. This innovative approach taps into the most stable ground-source energy exchange available.
Construction was completed in 2023, and the facility will open to the public in January 2024.
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Municipality: King Township
Action: Advanced energy performance buildings
Category: Buildings