Salmon Arm Recreation Centre

Energy conservation leads to $40,000 in savings

Learn how a recreation centre rose to the occasion to defeat rising gas prices and saved $40,000 in the first year.

The situation

As Leisure Services Manager at Salmon Arm Recreation Centre, Eric Stepura was acutely aware how much the increased cost of natural gas was affecting his operations budget.

In 2001, he was expecting to spend more than twice as much on gas as he had in 2000 — without consuming any extra. And that meant he'd have to find at least another $50,000 before the year was out.

The situation at Salmon Arm Recreation Centre was typical of many recreation centres in BC. Gas was being used for space heating in all areas as well as for heating the pool water in the main pool, the children's pool and the whirlpool. On top of that, all the hot water for showers, washrooms etc. was generated from gas. Two large boilers provided all the heating and hot water for the centre and more than half the gas they consumed went towards heating the pools.

It appeared that all the systems were operating efficiently. Still, Eric believed there had to be some opportunities to reduce consumption.

The plan

Eric decided an in-depth study was required to work out exactly how and when the centre used gas and whether there was any scope for savings. Over a period of months, he and his staff carried out their study and identified a number of opportunities:

Improved control of the boilers. The boilers were over-sized and could not be run independently. A new control system was proposed which would allow the boilers to fire at a rate corresponding to load and outside temperature.
Resetting pool area temperatures. The pool water and air temperatures could be maintained at the same level with new controls. This meant that the evaporation rate from the pool would be much reduced and the pool water heating load would drop accordingly.
At night, temperatures could be set back to 13°C in all areas except the pool.
Dropping the temperature in active sports areas down to
17°C would yield significant savings.
Programming usage of individual centre areas into the control system on a weekly basis would yield potential savings.

Actions

During 2001 all these opportunities were taken up. A new direct digital control (DDC) system was installed at a cost of $58,000. Once operational, temperature settings were changed and a program of staff training was undertaken to keep the system correctly maintained.

Results

All the efforts paid off. The Salmon Arm Recreation Centre used 32 per cent less gas in 2002 and saved nearly $40,000. At this rate, the investment will be paid back in 18 months. And when the boilers eventually need to be replaced, Eric knows they can count on another 10 to 15 per cent energy saving by purchasing high efficiency units.