Portfolio

Selected Client Work
Energy Recovery Project
Sunset Arena

Polar worked with the City of Vancouver to replace the facility’s evaporative condenser with a fluid cooler and updated the compressors with new energy  efficient models. These upgrades reduced the ammonia charge of the facility by 30%, increasing safety for operators and the public. As part of the project, Polar established a roadmap towards further ammonia reductions that when complete will reduce the plant charge by another 30%. Additionally, these upgrades laid the groundwork for energy recovery projects at Sunset Arena, resulting in reduced GHG emissions to help Vancouver meet its Climate Emergency Action Plan of 50% carbon reductions by 2030.

Cold Storage Facility
Krinos

Polar Engineering partnered with Krinos Foods Canada to apply for BC Hydro’s New Plant Design program and receive over $135,000 in funding to implement electricity-saving measures at Krinos’ new Delta cold storage facility. This funding was used to install high-speed roll up doors, high-efficiency hot gas defrost refrigeration systems, an underfloor heating system, and an advanced control system to manage the facility. 

Building from the New Plant Design study, Polar designed upgrades to the refrigeration and control system and a new underfloor heating system. These upgrades will reduce the facility’s annual electricity consumption by 424,000 kWh, leading to operating cost savings of over $30,000 annually.

Ammonia Refrigeration Plant
Summerland

Polar Engineering partnered with the District of Summerland to complete a major overhaul of the facility’s ammonia refrigeration plant. By installing two new plate and frame brine chillers, the ammonia charge of the facility was reduced by over 60%, increasing safety for clients and staff alike. By replacing the facility’s refrigerant compressors and installing speed drives on the facility’s brine pumps and evaporative condenser, electricity consumption was reduced by 25%. 

Furthermore, the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions were cut in half by optimizing the control strategy of the arena dehumidifier and installing a desuperheater to provide free water heating. Overall, these systems save the facility over $30,000 annually while reducing the facility’s carbon footprint by over 75 tonnes per year.

industrial Scale Ammonia Refrigeration Plant
Ucluelet Harbour Seafoods

Polar Engineering collaborated with the Ucluelet Harbour Seafoods team to introduce multiple energy efficiency enhancements to the facility’s industrial scale ammonia refrigeration plant. By incorporating a flash economizer vessel, a refrigerant an hydrator, and optimized control strategies, Polar achieved a 25% reduction in the plant’s electricity consumption. This translated to annual operating cost savings exceeding $110,000, while also alleviating pressure on the local power grid. Such substantial energy savings allowed Polar to secure over $390,000 in BC Hydro grant funding to implement the project.

Simultaneously, Polar engineered a high-temperature energy recovery system to capture waste heat from the refrigeration plant for domestic water heating purposes. This upgrade not only slashes electricity usage but also boosts the facility’s water heating capacity significantly. As a result, UHS saw a substantial increase in productivity due to reduced equipment washing and sanitation times.

Ucluelet Harbour Seafoods3
Energy Recovery Dehumidifier
Hollyburn Country Club
 
High Temperature Heat Pump
CLLC

Polar Engineering worked closely with the City of Chilliwack to design and implement a large energy recovery system spanning between two of the city’s recreation complexes. The ER system recovers waste heat from the Chilliwack Coliseum’s ammonia refrigeration plant and sends it through underground piping to the neighbouring Chilliwack Landing Leisure Center (CLLC). Inside the CLLC, a Polar-designed high temperature heat pump is used to boost the grade of this heat, allowing it to be used to meet the facility’s pool heating, space heating, and domestic water heating needs. This system greatly reduces facility operating costs, leading to annual savings of over $65,000 annually and a payback period of less than 10 years, all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 330 tonnes per year. Because of these impressive savings, the City of Chilliwack received a grant award of $725,000 through Fortis and CleanBC grant programs. 

This heat pump has also been designed to provide simultaneous heating and cooling throughout the summer months. This allows the system to continue to offset heating loads while also being used to provide supplemental cooling within the natatorium. This ensures that the City of Chilliwack can continue to maintain comfortable conditions within the pool, even during scorching summer days and crowded swim meet events.

Juan de Fuca - Cooling Floor
Decarbonization Projects
Westshore Parks and Recreation

Working with Westshore Parks and Recreation, Polar Engineering engineered and implemented a deep decarbonization system at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre in Victoria, making it one of the most efficient facilities of its kind in B.C.

In the first decarbonization project, Polar installed an energy recovery dehumidifier to service the facility’s natatorium. This dehumidifier recovers enough heat from the pool’s exhaust airstream to provide over 60% of the heat required by the facility’s pools, dressing rooms, and lobby, reducing natural gas consumption by more than 2,300 GJ per year. These upgrades have increased user comfort and reduced the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions by 110 tonnes per year.

In the second decarbonization project, Polar used a 1.9 million dollar grant to enable JDF to replace their heaved refrigerated floor and install a site specific heat pump. This engineered solution is providing 100% of the water and space heating needs of the arena. Since the installation of Polar’s site specific heat pump, the arena boilers have not operated, leading to greenhouse gas reductions of 284 tonnes annually.

Desiccant Dehumidifier
Prince George

To prevent degradation of the Kin Centre’s beautiful wood architecture, Polar Engineering worked with the City of Prince George to install a new desiccant dehumidifier. This dehumidifier provides increased user comfort and ice quality, while also eliminating the chance of future mould growth in the facility’s arena.

In the future, this dehumidifier will be integrated with an extensive energy recovery system that Polar is currently in the process of designing. This integration has been engineered to reduce the natural gas usage of the new dehumidifier by 100%.

High Temperature Heat Pump
UBC

Polar Engineering partnered with the University of British Columbia to engineer a site-specific, high temperature heat pump to meet the entire domestic water heating load of the facility, while also providing supplemental heat to the distributed hydronic heating system. These upgrades are set to reduce the facility’s natural gas consumption by nearly 40%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 260 tonnes annually.

In parallel with this Polar also completed the engineering of a low-charge plate and frame chiller, reduced-capacity ammonia receiver, energy recovery ammonia piping, and snowmelt pit. These upgrades reduced the ammonia charge by 20% and increased the capacity of the energy recovery system by 30%. 

Tumbler Ridge - Condenser 2
Energy Recovery Project
Tumbler Ridge

Working with the District of Tumbler Ridge, Polar Engineering applied for and received over 1.1 million dollars in grant funding to upgrade the Tumbler Ridge Community Centre. This funding was used to install a site-specific energy recovery system which will integrate
directly with the facility’s boiler loop, providing over 60% of the heat required for pool, space, and domestic water heating. 

This system will reduce the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions nearly 210 tonnes per year, leading to operating cost savings of over $56,000 annually. To support these upgrades, Polar Engineering designed several upgrades within the facility’s ammonia refrigeration plant, including the installation of a new low-charge chiller, a plate and frame condenser, as well as a Guntner adiabatic fluid cooler. These upgrades have reduced the ammonia charge of the refrigeration system by over 70% and will also reduce the facility’s water consumption by nearly 1.7 million litres each year

Climate Change Preperations
TRAIL

Working with the City of Trail, Polar Engineering designed an evaporative condenser replacement at the Trail Memorial Centre Using 2050 weather predictions as engineering design conditions, this condenser upgrade will ensure the Trail Memorial Centre can provide great ice even through toughest environmental conditions in the coming years

Ammonia Compressors & Cooling Refuge Strategy
Coquitlam

Polar Engineering partnered with the City of Coquitlam to replace
the facility’s ammonia compressors, high-pressure receiver and surge drums, and ammonia air conditioning chiller. These upgrades will reduce the ammonia charge by 60%, reduce the electrical consumption by 15%, and provide much needed HVAC cooling capacity in the summer.

In parallel with these upgrades, Polar Engineering worked with the City of Coquitlam to develop a cooling refuge strategy which will provide a safe haven for the residents of Coquitlam in the event of a heat dome event, similar to that which was experienced by BC residents in 2021. Using 2050 and 2080 climate predictions, this cooling refuge was designed to ensure that the facility can be maintained at safe temperatures during record breaking weather events, even in the event of electrical power loss. With climate change becoming more and more apparent, this type of cooling refuge is becoming increasingly important

Cold Storage Facility
Creekside Custom Foods

Using thermal imaging, Polar worked alongside facility staff to determine the location of thermal breaks within the Creekside Custom Foods cold storage facility. Using this information, Polar Engineering then engineered an insulation replacement solution for the facility.

These upgrades lead to a sharp decrease in the refrigeration plant’s electrical consumption, dramatically reducing the facility’s operating costs and environmental impact

Creekside Custom Foods - Warehouse 2
Before - Thermal Breaks
After - No Thermal Breaks
CO2 Cooling System
GMTO Telescope

Polar Engineering worked with GMTO to design an oil-free CO2 refrigeration system designed to cool both the primary and secondary mirrors. This DX CO2 system was uniquely designed to minimize vibration, while operating without oil to ensure that refrigerant leaks did not affect the telescope operation.

Mirror cooling system - GMTO Telescope - Polar Engineering
Energy Recovery Project
Valemount

Polar Engineering worked with the District of Fraser-Fort George to install anewlow-charge chillerandbrine pumpsin the Canoe Valley recreation Centre. These upgradesreducedthe facility’sammoniacharge by nearly 60%, increasing safety for the facility’s occupants and the surrounding community.

In addition to these upgrades, Polar designed compressor modifications which allow the facility to operate without the supervision of Refrigeration Operators, avoiding staffing headaches for the facility’s managers and saving the community thousands of dollars each year

Chiller Replacement and Power Reductions
Oceanside Place
Polar Engineering was the engineer of record for the low charge chiller upgrade at Oceanside Place in 2019. This design reduced the operating ammonia charge of Oceanside Place by over 60% and reduced Oceanside Place’s refrigeration operating costs by 15% by utilizing floating head condenser optimization.
Ice Hockey Arena for Polar Engineering
Energy and Heat Recovery for swimming pool at Recreation Center for Polar Engineering
Energy Recovery Project
Oak Bay

Working for the City of Oak Bay, Polar Engineering designed a high temperature heat pump which provided over 60% of the heat for their pool, arena dehumidifier, and building domestic hot water.   

This system drastically reduced the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions. Please see the graph detailing 2018 gas consumption in gray and 2019 reduced gas consumption due to the energy recovery system in blue. 

Please note, the energy recovery system was turned on halfway through March

CO2 Cooling System
Canadian National Research Council (NRC)

Working with the National Research Council for the TMT telescope in Hawaii. Polar Engineering designed a vibration and oil free CO2 cooling system for sensitive electronics.  This system was designed to minimize vibration while providing reliable cooling for over 50 independent cooling loads. This system will allow the TMT telescope to explore the universe.

National Research Council of Canada logo for Polar Engineering
vibration and oil free CO2 cooling system for sensitive electronics for Polar Engineering

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