Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/599904
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF EXTREME ICE CENTER T he secret's out: the cost of running a hockey rink is pretty expensive. Everything you see when you walk into your local rink has one common denominator behind it all: energy. USA Hockey Southeastern District Youth Council Director and General Manager of Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail, North Carolina, Mike Mulhall has energy monitoring down to a science, thanks to a state-of-the-art cost-effective system. The SiteSage Energy Management System by PowerWise Systems gives accurate readings as to what contributes to electricity costs, controls HVAC, gives readings on equipment within a rink and monitors water, gas and environmental conditions. This system allows its user to get advanced insight into the facility's energy usage. It gives constant updates and provides graphs on exactly where spikes in energy use are. "The system itself is very flexible, so we can use it in different parts of the building if we want to," Mulhall says. "We pretty much have our refrigeration plant monitored 24/7." With a heavy emphasis on his refrigeration system, Mulhall constantly receives accurate data that allows him to make decisions on how to run his rink. That data allows him to immediately fix a problem that would otherwise make things more expensive without it. "It has some programs in it to do alarms, and it does comparisons," Mulhall explains. "We've been running with this equipment now for about three years, so I've got a pretty good sampling of data from month to month. It allows me to target our main usage of power in the building." With cost and saving money being a big concern with energy usage, Mulhall says that this system comes with a significantly lower price tag than what one might expect. "It's fairly cost-effective," Mulhall says. "From a rink standpoint, it's one of those things where you could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on this stuff. I think I spent a couple thousand bucks." 36 / NOVEMBER.DECEMBER.2015 RINKMAGAZINE.COM "IF YOU'RE ONLY TALKING ABOUT A COUPLE THOUSAND DOLLARS, THERE'S NO QUESTION WE'VE SAVED WELL OVER THAT." by MILES MCQUINN RINK technology Energy Management System Energizing $avings Energy management system proves cost-efficient for monitoring rink activity