Montreal will invest $ 200 million in upgrades to all its arenas so they can operate without freon, a refrigerant gas pollutant that will soon be banned.
The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, provides its ban in 2020. This gas harmful to the ozone layer is already difficult to obtain on the market and its price has increased significantly.
The City of Montreal has no choice of renovate arenas. She had already reached $ 90 million to renovate 15 March 2009, but this is the first time she undertakes to remake its 34 rinks.
Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Laurent Lessard, made the announcement yesterday at the arena Camillien-Houde, in South Central, which has just been renovated at a cost of 5 million.
"Right here, we will save $ 40 000 per year in energy costs," noted Mr. Lessard, who expressed surprise that the arena has no parking. "An arena would not exist without parking in my corner," joked the member for Frontenac, Chaudière-Appalaches. Montreal is very ... "
Arena Camillien-Houde is the fourth to have been renovated in Montreal. Four others will be this year, and all others by 2020.
Freon system is replaced by another that works with ammonia, less harmful to the environment. The operation costs about $ 2 million per rink. We must break the concrete slab and replace the pipes underneath. It takes more larger arena to accommodate a separate cooling device.
The remaining money will be used to renovate other areas of Montreal arenas, many of which have exceeded their useful life.
Quebec and Ottawa will pay half the bill.
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