Ice rinks are among the most energy intensive public buildings. According to previous studies a typical ice rink consumes about 1000 MWh/year, and the refrigeration system is typically the largest consumer. Consequently, the first step to decrease their energy demand is to find major heat loads on the ice. To fulfill this objective the study has two main approaches. The first approach is to evaluate the performance of the refrigeration system in two ice rinks. The estimated cooling capacity is approximately equal to the total heat load on the ice plus the heat gains in the distribution system. This goal has been accomplished by using a performance analyser. It uses compressor as an internal mass flow meter. While the total heat load is known by the first approach, the second approach discovers different heat loads shares by analytical modelling. The measured physical and thermodynamic parameters plus the ice rink geometrical characteristics are input to the heat transfer correlations to estimate the respective heat loads. The results of the measurements show that the total refrigeration system energy consumption in the first ice rink is about two third of the second. The main reasons for the lower energy consumption are smarter control systems for compressors and pumps, better ventilation distribution design and 1-2°C higher ice temperature. Calculations show that convection, radiation, ice resurfacing and lighting are the largest heat loads in winter while in summer condensation is another significant heat load. To conclude, a parallel "performance analysis of the refrigeration system" and "heat loads estimation" proved to be a useful tool for adopting proper design and control policies.
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