Colorado College Tigers

Colorado’s College’s new 3,400 seat Ed Robson Arena is a multi-purpose, state-of-the-art, sustainable sporting event ice arena facility. For the first time in school history, the CC Tiger Hockey games are now played on campus. One of the goals for this facility was to strengthen and diversity the economic impact of Pikes Peak region visitor attractions. Funding, in part, was made possible by a generous $12M grant from Edward J. Robson. There are many events that are held here despite being a hockey arena. There is open skating, arena tour times, as well as a multipurpose event room, Chapman Room, that hold luncheons, meetings, class time, and a small catering kitchen.

From the very beginning of the planning efforts for this facility, the College was focused on sustainability with a very ambitious goal for making this facility “Net Zero”. This means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere by oceans, forests, etc. The entire design team worked effortlessly toward this goal.

Since a large amount of the energy required to operate this facility goes toward the making and maintaining of the ice sheet, the design of the ice system was a major focus to achieve this goal. Tapping into B32’s extensive experience with high performance refrigeration systems and their industry leading knowledge of using CO2 and, more specifically, CO2 direct systems, a very thorough energy modeling effort was performed at the start the design process. Five different types of refrigerants/refrigeration systems were evaluated, studied and modeled to determine the best fit for this facility and the College’s Net Zero goals. It was determined that a direct CO2 system was needed to meet the College’s Net Zero goals as it pertains to the ice system. After months of additional discussion and reviews, it was determined that the faicity would be designed to be Net Zero ready but budget constraints would lead them to select another type of refrigerant. An indirect R-134a refrigerant-based refrigeration system was selected to maximize the College’s operations and maintenance of the systems.

Working with the direction provided by the College, which also included providing the best ice quality in the NCAA league; B32 designed the ice system for maximizing heat transfer through the system by increased flowrates, on-site inspection during the construction phase to assure installation of the rink floor and other components, providing cost effective system redundancy, etc.