Building the Community

Located three hours east of Halifax, the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) is building a vibrant community that retains and attracts new families to the region. Infrastructure, such as the greenfield 16,000 ft² Chedabucto Lifestyle Complex project, plays a key role in achieving this goal.

The Chedabucto project, finalized in 2018, aimed to transform this small community into an attractive destination for residents seeking a high quality of life for their families.

The complex functions as a recreational and educational campus, featuring a shinny rink (100 x 85 ft) and an outdoor figure-8 skating trail (12 ft wide and 1,000 ft long). It also includes a regulation-size artificial turf soccer field with a four-lane running track (and a new seating area), plus a fitness center, outdoor pool, tennis courts, and performing arts center – amongst others.

The entire facility is designed for multi-purpose use all year round. For instance, the shinny rink can be used off-season for hockey, basketball, or other outdoor activities such as an outdoor wedding venue. Meanwhile, the skating trial is used for rollerblading and walking during the off-season.

Originally conceived to be an ice arena, this new multi-use concept strategically fills in the existing recreation gaps with facilities focused on inclusivity, and the health and wellbeing of the Municipality’s communities.

Thanks to the total thermal design of the complex and the related savings, MODG can provide its various community programs at a reduced cost, making it more accessible to everyone in this remote community of Nova Scotia.

For example, the new lifestyle complex also provides an improved facility for the Guysborough Options for Adaptive Living Society (GOALS) program for adult learners faced with either physical or mental disabilities. This allowed GOALS to improve and expand their programs and services.

This impressive installation proves that no community is too small or too rural to make a difference.

“They did it because it was the right thing to do – both for the community and the environment,” said David Fauser, Director of Sales and Marketing at CIMCO. “I’ve never heard of any other project that has achieved such a revolutionary design before. If this can be done in such a small community, it really can be done anywhere.” 

Innovative Sustainable Design 

To handle the thermal needs of the entire Chedabucto Lifestyle Complex, CIMCO designed, manufactured, and installed a 150-ton CO₂ Thermal Force One (TF1) system. This is effectively a heat pump, air-conditioning, and refrigeration system all in one – complete with waste heat recovery on the refrigeration system. It also includes ice batteries and a buffer tank to allow for thermal storage and continued performance, regardless of the season or operation of the rinks.

Thanks to its integrated design and waste heat recovery, the CO₂ system boasts an average seasonal cooling coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.8, as calculated by CIMCO’s in-house engineers. By comparison, an R407 (HFC) system with heat pumps would only achieve a COP of 2.36 if selected for this particular project. This clear energy efficiency improvement made the integrated TF1 system a superior choice.

One of the biggest savings comes from the waste heat that is extracted from the rink surfaces and injected back into the building to provide domestic hot water (at 140 °F) and space heating (at 95 °F). The system provides 100% of the heat required for the facility via the ice-making process.

The refrigeration system also provides cooled glycol for the air-conditioning system. An ice battery is used to provide the glycol during the Summer months when the rink isn’t in use. The ice battery acts as a thermal storage medium to allow the refrigeration system to make, store, and use heat for the building’s mechanical needs.

The key reason for choosing the natural refrigerant CO₂ (R744) for this facility was to ensure long-term viability. As the system is expected to operate in excess of 30 years, it was important to select a refrigerant not at risk of being phased out (or phased down).

Fluorinated gases such as HFCs and HFOs have proven detrimental effects on the environment and are aggressively being phased out globally. Whereas natural refrigerants such as CO₂ with a negligible global warming potential (GWP) will never be phased out and are easily (and cheaply) available.

Additionally, CO₂ brings the benefit of proven efficiencies and enhanced performance in this application, which allows the municipality to reduce the operating costs of the facility and use the savings to do more for the community.

Classed as an A1 refrigerant in terms of safety, CO₂ also does not require a ticketed operator to maintain the facility, further improving cost savings and reducing risk.