ADRENALIN REPORTS INNOVATION PAVING THE WAY FORWARD In 2023, when the Rideau Canal Skateway stayed closed all season for the first time due to warm temperatures and heavy snow that prevented a thick ice layer from forming, it not only tanked city revenues but also raised serious questions for the National Capital Commission (NCC), which maintains the popular outdoor skating venue. To help bolster future skating seasons, the NCC commissioned researchers at Carleton University to collect data and find creative ways to encourage ice growth. One pilot project emerging from the four- year research partnership is a snow bot that can assess the ice conditions and clear small amounts of snow in areas where conventional equipment can’t access thinner ice sections of the canal, explains Shawn Kenny, a civil environmental engineering professor at Carleton University. Kenny is working with several other Carleton professors and a group of graduate and post-doctoral students to build and fine-tune the prototype. “We’re seeing how we can build resilience in the canal, by building the ice cover early in the season and getting conventional equipment onto the ice as early as possible,” he says. “At the beginning of the season, as the water cools, it needs a catalyst to help it transform from cold water into ice, and snow can be one of those catalysts. The idea is for snow bots to venture onto the ice cover when it’s thin.” Eventually, the semi-autonomous snow clearing prototype might evolve into a compacting machine, or an ice flooding device. It’s a long-term process, but ultimately, the snow bot could improve the quality of the ice. “This year, we had cold and then some snow, followed by rain and then cold, so we know that if we remove that snow either through melting or by saturation, flooding and freezing, that would be ideal. And that’s why they were able to open the canal even with that snowfall in December,” explains Kenny. FACING CLIMATE REALITIES Advances in snowmaking may bridge the gap left by Mother Nature, but it comes at a high price: Canadian resorts spend about $157 million each year just to stay operational, according to POW, while consuming 478 CLIMATE ADAPTATION QUICK WINS • Use flexible scheduling to adapt to last-minute weather changes. • Use climate forecasting tools to assess future risks and inform planning. • Employ real-time weather tracking systems to guide operational decisions. IN SPRING 2025, THE CANADA GAMES COUNCIL IS RELEASING A SUSTAINABLE SPORT EVENT TOOL KIT, FEATURING STEPS TO SUCCESS, CHECKLISTS FOR PRE-EVENT PLANNING, GAME-TIME IMPLEMENTATION AND POST-EVENT ACTION. Source: Canada Games Council 2025 sustainable sport event tool kit million kWh of energy and 43.4 million cubic metres of water. That’s why it’s vital to implement other options that combat climate change, says Vancouver-based Gillian Orris, senior advisor of sustainability and impact with the Canada Games Council (CGC). “Stakeholders should be looking at how to be a proactive part of the solution rather than mitigating the problem so that we’re creating sporting events in the most sustainable way, and not adding to the problem,” explains Orris. As co-chair of Canadian Alliance on Sport for Climate Action, a framework developed by UN Climate Change, CGC measures, reduces and reports greenhouse gas emissions while working to reduce its carbon footprint and inspire climate action beyond the sports sector. Orris says last- minute changes due to warmer temperatures are nothing new. “We’ve been aware of challenging weather situations for a long time in the Canada Games movement. There was an outdoor ice oval for the Canada Games 2015 in Prince George, but the team had to do a venue shift because it wasn’t viable for the competition,” says Orris. “They had an indoor facility ready to host the event, including hotel rooms and participant transportation, and there was a substantial sponsorship attached to that. But up until about five years ago, we haven’t considered how we can be more proactive.” Orris cites CGC’s sustainability targets across three categories—energy and climate, circularity and waste, and natural regeneration. And while a sustainable sport event tool kit was created for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, nothing’s been updated—until now. “The CGC, with Sport Canada support, just developed an incredibly robust sustainable sport event tool kit, which we’re making public in spring,” reports Orris. Each category offers 10 steps to success, plus checklists for pre-event planning, game-time implementation and post-event action. “Under each category, we also have five quick wins to consider and best-in-class global examples of sporting events,” she says, adding that stakeholders can start with easy steps. “You can encourage sustainable transportation to or from venues for participants and spectators, implement waste reduction practices and minimize how much plastic is used at the event.” SCAN THE QR CODE to access Canada Games Council’s new tool kit in spring 2025. 21 SPRING 2025 | ADRENALIN
