As Winter Olympics Heat Up, Ice Rinks Can Exemplify Climate Policy in Action | Article

With the 2022 Winter Olympic Games running from February 4 to 20, a spotlight is yet again on the impact of climate change on winter sports. Increasing global temperatures have resulted in less snow and more rain, limiting the number of options available for future Winter Olympic sites. The average daytime temperature at Winter Olympic sites has increased from just above freezing at 32.7°F (0.4°C) in the 1920-1950 Games to 46.04°F (7.8°C) during the 2000-2014 Games.

Ice skating, unlike snow sports, can more easily be protected from increasing temperatures because athletes compete indoors. However, while indoor ice rinks are more insulated from the effects of higher temperatures, operators must contend with the contributions rinks make to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions.

Liquid refrigerants beneath the ice work by absorbing heat from the ice rinks and turning it into a vapor. As the vapor then cools, it returns to liquid state and is cycled back through the system to cool the rink.

Ice rink refrigerants, much like those in household refrigerators, contain potent greenhouse gases that warm the atmosphere. Common synthetic refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have a Global Warming Potential (GWP) hundreds to thousands of times stronger than that of carbon dioxide (CO2).

By signing the Montreal Protocol in 1987, countries agreed to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), the predecessors to HFCs. HCFCs not only warm the atmosphere, but also deplete the ozone layer. The U.S. HCFC phaseout will be complete by 2030.

The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act), passed during the Trump Administration with bipartisan support, is intended to decrease HFC production in the United States by 85 percent by the end of 2035. These refrigerants are also being phased out globally under the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, this global phaseout, which began January 1, 2021, with a 10 percent reduction in HFC production, is “expected to avoid up to 0.5° Celsius of global warming by 2100” and will produce benefits from mitigated climate change worth $272 billion through 2050.

To implement the AIM Act, the Biden-Harris Administration released a rule that includes strict enforcement and deterrence to prevent illegal HFC production and trade, as well as support for HFC alternatives, including over $8 million for research and development.

In part because of this phasedown, HFCs are increasingly being replaced by other refrigerants such as ammonia and CO2, both of which have tradeoffs.

Ammonia, which has no Ozone-Depleting Potential (ODP) or GWP, is currently the most common refrigerant in ice rinks. It is a toxic substance and can be dangerous if systems are not properly maintained. In 2017, an ammonia leak killed three men at the Fernie arena in British Columbia, Canada. However, safeguards and regulations have allowed widespread ammonia use in ice rinks. The Climate Pledge Arena, the first carbon-neutral ice arena, based in Seattle, Washington, uses an ammonia refrigeration system.

CO2 likewise has no ODP and has relatively little GWP compared to HFC options, but it is a newer technology. But CO2 and ammonia systems are both much more expensive than HFC systems. They are, however, cheaper to run. Indeed, refrigerant type impacts the amount of energy ice rinks use during operation. Generally, CO2 systems have the lowest total energy consumption, ammonia systems have significantly more energy consumption (about 34 percent more), and HFC systems have the greatest (about 55 percent more than CO2 systems).

Although the climate benefits of CO2 and ammonia refrigeration systems over HFCs are clear, converting arenas is very expensive. In Minnesota, for example, where about half of the state's 240 ice rinks were affected by the U.S. government’s 2020 ban on HCFC imports, upgrading to CO2 or ammonia systems was expected to cost almost $2 million for some arenas, according to Minnesota State Senator LeRoy Stumpf. In this case, the state subsidized some of the costs, which would have been difficult for small local rinks to cover on their own.

At professional sports arenas, funding these refrigerant upgrades is generally more feasible. A majority of National Hockey League (NHL) rinks use ammonia or other zero-GWP refrigerants.

The NHL is promoting a refrigerant blend of HFCs and hydrofluoroolefins (HFO) as part of its partnership with chemical producer Chemours Company. HFOs are similar to HFCs, but some HFOs have much lower global warming potentials—one HFO has a GWP that rivals CO2.

However, the Chemours-NHL partnership advertises refrigerant blends that have GWPs 1,700 and 3,100 times that of CO2 over a 20-year period. Chemours says that these “low-GWP” refrigerants are not as cost-prohibitive as cleaner alternatives and that they are still an improvement over some common HFCs.

Another alternative is to eliminate the need for rink refrigerants entirely. Synthetic, or plastic, ice is popular for small backyard rinks but is also being used at larger scales recreationally. Mexico City, home of the world’s largest “ice” rink, said that by using synthetic ice, it saved about 49,000 gallons of water and prevented 95 tons of CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, synthetic ice has more friction than real ice, a concern for many athletes who say it is unsuitable for professional events.

Leading up to the 2021 international climate summit (COP26), the International Olympics Committee pledged to ensure games would be “climate positive” by 2030. This pledge means minimizing and compensating for carbon emissions, including by planting an “Olympic Forest” in the Sahel region of Africa as part of the Great Green Wall Project. Using ice rinks with low-GWP refrigerants will be critical to this goal. In Beijing, three Olympic ice venues will rely on a “low-GWP” Chemours refrigerant blend, while four rinks will be the first ever to use CO2 systems for the three ice sports.

Although ice sports may not be as vulnerable to climate change as other winter sports, their impact must be reduced to ensure the Olympics meet their 2030 climate pledge and set an example of sustainability for the international audiences that will be eagerly tuning in.

Author: S. Grace Parker