The days of natural things are going to history. In the consumption driven world of the 20-21 century we get used to eating strawberries and bananas in January, as well as going swimming year-round, even if you are in Alaska or in the Canadian prairies.

Thus, nobody is surprised to see Olympic 2010 skating rink in Vancouver Lower Mainland, where the average February temperature is +6^oC.

Powerful ice making machines will create ice for the Olympic 2010 skating rink.

In a nice sunny day building roof gains up to 1700 Btu/hr. Thus, for the 2010 Olympic skating rink’s structure with it’s vast 100 meters by 200 meters roof (2 hectares =20000sq.m or almost 215000sq.ft) the heat gain could be 10,000KW or 34,000,000Btu/hr. This huge flow of heat comes from the roof only. According to the carbonify.com CO2 calculator, running this venue will add 2700 metric tons (5,900,000lbs) of carbon dioxide per year, just to compensate heat gain from the ROOF ONLY!

This kind of emission is a serious threat for the sustainable environment. Is there anything HVAC engineers can do to prevent ice from melting in the Olympic 2010, except for adding extra power to the compressors? They can, especially for the warm areas.

Reflective insulation is the answer. Shiny layer of aluminum foil supported by reinforcement can reflect 95% of the roof heat radiation. It will add minimum weight to such unique wooden roof as 2010 Olympic skating rink. High quality reflective insulation is a powerful tool to reduce energy consumption, while it is strong, durable, easy to install and maintenance free. Instalaltion if straightforward, simple and requires only construction staples, foil tape and knife.

For more information on the reflective insulation and foil tape for the installation go to the Calem Technology.