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Green Your Ice Skating with Iceless Rinks?

Winter fun can be more eco-friendly with these tips.

Josh Peterson

By Josh Peterson
Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:51

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Philip and Karen Smith/Getty Images

There are ice skating rinks all over this great country of ours. If you think your refrigerator sucks up a lot of energy, think about how much energy these bad boys must use. They even have skating rinks in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. If heating and cooling are the largest guzzlers of energy, then ice skating rinks are the atomic bombs of energy guzzling.

Skate outdoors
Of course, you can always skate on an outdoor rink in the wintertime. Make sure to do it on ice that has been specially set aside for ice skating. You don't want to skate on thin ice, and you don't want to tramp down the habitats of wild plants and animals.

A new indoor option
There is a new invention that originated in Spain and has gained popularity in Japan. It's iceless ice skating. The rinks are made out of plastic resin panels and a special wax is applied to the rink floor in order to add that icy slipperiness. Iceless rinks save nearly $200,000 in energy and water bills.

So if you love to ice skate and want to be environmentally conscious, you're probably going to have to wait until the winter to skate without the guilt. Otherwise, you should write your local rinks and ask them to go iceless.

More Outdoor Fun:
5 Tips to Green Your Ski Trip
5 Eco Friendly Hunting Tips
Go Apple Picking and 3 More Great Green Fall Activities

 
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