Skip to content

Curling Club requests grant to make rink greener

The District of Vanderhoof are supporting the efforts of the Vanderhoof Curling Club to obtain $56,000 for upgrades to the curling rink.

The District of Vanderhoof are supporting the efforts of the Vanderhoof Curling Club to obtain $56,000 for upgrades to the curling rink.

During the last regular council meeting on June 22, council passed a resolution to write a letter of support for the funding application to the Nechako-Kitamaat Development Fund Society.

If the club is successful with the grant application, a project will go ahead to increase the energy efficiency of the curling rink that will in turn decrease carbon emissions.

The project will include a refrigeration plant replacement. Presently the facility uses  a refrigerant 22 water cooled plant - this would be replaced with a new refrigerant 5-7 air cooled system.

As well as increasing the efficiency of the plant and saving at least 15 per cent of energy, the new system would also mean the deletion of all water requirements which would save about 1.6 million gallons of treated water per five month season.

A new heating system would also be installed to replace the current one which expects to increase energy efficiency from where it currently sits at 60 per cent, to 92-95 per cent.

Other features of the project would include the removal and replacement of wall insulation, and the replacement of cooling system pipes and headers, and the replacement of sand floors with cement.

A cement floor would mean the facility could be used all year for a number of community activities. Some suggestions for use would be an indoor farmers market and a roller skating rink.

In a letter from the district to John Murphy of the Vanderhoof Curling Club informing him of their support of the application, they expressed how much they value the facility.

“The curling rink is a valuable recreation facility in our community and your plans to make the building usable year-round and increase its energy efficiency match District of Vanderhoof priorities by: providing year-round recreational opportunities to local residents, creating events which attract out-of-town visitors to Vanderhoof, therefore increasing revenues for local businesses, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” the letter stated.