Start on Thursday – Wiener Eistraum is now learning how to save energy

On Thursday, Rathausplatz will once again be transformed into the city’s largest ice skating rink. For visitors – almost – nothing changes. Behind the scenes, however, technical innovations bring enormous savings.

The ice dream has been a pleasure for the past 27 seasons. With the new edition from Thursday to March 5th, there is also a good ecological conscience – thanks to numerous technical innovations under and behind the ice. Visitors only have to do without a few things: Only curling rinks will not be available this year. The remainder of the savings of around 1000 square meters of ice surface compared to the previous year is achieved by a newly planned children’s area and a slightly modified course on the “ice paths” through the town hall park. This also gives the gastronomy more space.Viennese ingenuity ensures innovationsA lot has changed, especially in technical terms: the waste heat from the cooling systems, for example, is now used to dry and warm the 2000 pairs of rental ice skates. In addition, there is no longer any need to transport ice and snow debris from the ice machines by truck, because it can also be melted with the waste heat and fed into the sewage system. Vienna also had white cooling hoses made for the ice surfaces especially for the Ice Dream. They reflect heat from the sun instead of absorbing it like the black tubing on most ice rinks. This also saves (a little) energy. With these and other measures, the Ice Dream will use around a fifth less energy this year than before. Applied to guests, this means consumption of around one kilowatt hour per person and visit – not much more than you would use at home in the same time.Speaking of costs: groups from schools, kindergartens and after-school care centers can continue to use the ice free of charge until the evening . As in the previous year, the ticket prices for everyone else are 8.50 euros for adults and 6 euros for children. If you buy online, it will be ten percent cheaper, and perhaps even more important: You can save yourself the annoying waiting times at the cash registers.
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