Gold rush

The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada received international attention not only for the calibre of athletic performances, but also for the focus the games had on sustainability. The 2010 Winter Olympics were touted as the greenest Olympic Games in history.

Alongside the goals for a sustainable Olympic venue, Canada also set aggressive goals for medal achievement, and created the Own the Podium (OTP) program. Own the Podium set specific targets for Canadian athletes to achieve excellence as a world leader in performance sport. The OTP program resulted in a total of 14 gold medals for Canada, more than any previous host nation has won during the Winter Olympics.

It could also be said that through the efforts of Delta Controls partner ESC Automation, and Delta Controls OEM partner CIMCO Refrigeration, BACnet also owned the podium in 2010. The number of 2010 Winter Olympic facilities that had Delta Controls BACnet products is hugely impressive.

Whether it was speed skaters practicing laps at the Richmond Speed Skating Oval, or ski jumpers trying to catch the best air up at Whistler or the world’s finest hockey players playing in the Olympic Games marquee event; behind the scenes, Delta Controls BACnet-based control systems were ensuring all athletes had the best possible environment in which to compete.

Three of the more high-profile facilities in which Delta Controls BACnet product was installed for the 2010 Winter Games are as follows:

The Whistler Sliding Center, Whistler BC
Home to the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events, the waste heat from the refrigeration plant is captured and reused to heat buildings on-site. Delta Controls BACnet controllers are located in six individual buildings at the Sliding Center. All the buildings on site are networked into the main refrigeration plant which is situated at the bottom of the Sliding Center.

Olympic Park Ski Jump Center, Whistler BC
Playing host to all the ski jumping events, both the 96-metre and 125-metre ski jumps were mechanically cooled by a custom-designed CIMCO refrigeration package. One of only two ski jump facilities in the world to be refrigerated, and the first to utilise a steel-pipe cooling system.

Richmond Olympic Speed Skating Oval
This $178m state-of-the-art speed skating track has been called the “sexiest” 2010 Olympic competition venue in Omega Lifetime magazine. Additionally, the Institution of Structural Engineers awarded the Richmond Olympic Oval its top award for Sports or Leisure Structures.
These Games also set an incredible standard for sustainability, so much so that the venues have all received the Excellence for Green Building Award from the Globe Foundation and the World Green Building Council.

Delta Controls BACnet products helped fulfill the goal of sustainability and performance, just as the OTP program did for the hugely successfull array of Canadian athletes. While BACnet wasn’t first and foremost on the athletes minds when on the podium, it was responsible for ensuring that all the environments and venues in which the athletes performed always met and even surpassed their world-class standards.

For more information Erhard M. Dobler is vice president of Global Sales at Delta Controls Inc; Email: edobler@deltacontrols.com