Article content
City and federal officials are pumping more than $3 million into green energy upgrades for Earl Nichols arena in south London, they announced on Thursday.
A combined $3.5 million, $2.3 million of which is coming from Ottawa, is going into the nearly 40-year-old rink to install a new refrigeration plant with a heat pump and thermal battery storage.
“The most exciting part is now we get to actually build this and improve this facility, which will be more energy efficient, will be a better experience for everybody who uses it, and continue to be an important asset in our community,” Mayor Josh Morgan said of the hockey and figure-skating venue that draws more than 240,000 people annually.
Article content
Officials say the investment will reduce the building’s carbon emissions by an estimated 246 tonnes, and reduce its energy consumption by 42 per cent.
London North Centre Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos said the age of the building, combined with its heavy use, made the upgrades necessary.
“It matters a great deal to the community, but after 40 years, it makes sense to look at a retrofit moving away from natural gas,” he said. “This is not to say that there’s something inherently wrong with natural gas, but there are more energy-efficient ways to power a building.”
Earl Nichols is the second facility in London to be granted money for green-energy upgrades, with Kinsmen arena being given $2.1 million through the federal program roughly two years ago.
The federal grant is open for a third round of applications for small and medium upgrades up to $3 million, while an application pool for larger projects up to $25 million will open in early September.
The news comes just days after city politicians reviewed a progress report for London’s climate action plan, which shows that the city is trending in the wrong direction on its emissions targets. Morgan says that on sources of emissions that are within the city’s control, it is tracking in the right direction.
“Upgrading one of the city’s assets and the city’s building is fully within the city’s control,” he said. “Where we’re still facing some challenges is within a high-growth city, there are many more people moving here, the energy consumption generally is going up, and we don’t see in the . . . uptake of electric vehicles like we would have anticipated.”
Recommended from Editorial
Share this article in your social network
