“When it was time to update the arena’s cooling equipment, we looked at systems that would enable us to lower the utility costs for the county’s 7,200-seat arena,” said Roger George of Johnson Controls, consulting engineers for the arena. “Tecogen’s chillers will reduce electric costs by using natural gas instead of electricity to cool the arena and chill the glycol used for the ice rink.”

Located in Binghamton, NY, the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena hosts diversified entertainment for over half a million people each year. Besides being home to the United Hockey League’s BC Icemen, the arena also hosts such events as “Disney on Ice,” concerts, trade shows, and other professional, scholastic, and amateur sporting events. Since all of these events do not take place on ice, the arena needed a multi-faceted chiller that would enable them to not only keep the ice cool, but also to keep the building itself comfortable for all event-goers.

The 200-ton Tecochill STx system will provide air conditioning as part of a hybrid central utility plant for the arena. A hybrid plant allows users to alternate between different energy sources, such as electricity and natural gas, using whichever source is the most cost-effective at a given time.

The system is scheduled to be in operation by the end of February.

Publication date: 02/11/2002