Four newly built rinks in Beijing will use alternative carbon dioxide cooling systems with far less of an impact on global warming than the artificial refrigerants.
Under an international treaty in 1987, countries agreed to phase out an earlier generation of refrigerants because of their ozone-depleting properties. That eventually paved the way for the rise of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which don’t zap a hole in the atmosphere but can leak from discarded appliances and are considered a major driver of global warming.
In North America, many ice rinks already use ammonia for their cooling systems. But at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, rinks were still using damaging refrigerants, said Xavier Becker, associate director of venues for the International Olympic Committee. Art Sutherland, a refrigeration consultant for the IOC, said officials in Beijing didn’t want to use ammonia because of fears about toxic leaks. They instead opted for CO2 cooling, a relatively newer option that has a negligible climate impact relative to artificial refrigerants.
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