"Green" Ice Resurfacing Machines Fail In Vancouver

lurking_giant writes "The Seattle Times is reporting that the Men's 500 meter speed-skating competition was delayed more than an hour Monday evening by the breakdown of the two ice grooming machines at the skating oval. The real story is that the machines that failed were the latest state-of-the-art 'Resurfice Fume-Free Electric Groomers' leased to the Olympics committee. An old, propane-powered Zamboni had to be brought out to fix the ice. This makes two nights in a row with ice resurfacing machine failures. If you're going to spend twice as much on electric devices to replace non-green designs, at least test the things first."

Comments

Deals with "Official Olympic Partners"

[captainpanic]

I heard (on TV, so no link) that they weren't allowed to use the old machines because those are not official Olympic partners...

Even the engine (which isn't visible to the audience) had to be made by an Olympic partner.

Anyway, that, plus the fact that the band was only allowed to play 2 songs in the break, showed to me that the Canadians keep to the rules a bit too precise. The organisation seemed so afraid of problems by unexpected events by people that when the machines broke down, all creativity and initiative was smothered under a blanket of Bureaucracy On Ice.

Re:Deals with "Official Olympic Partners"

[PitaBred]

And people wonder why I boycott the Olympics any more. It's no longer about the athletes or the competition, it's all about the IOC and how they can get more money and control. Fuck 'em.

Re:Green ?

[WindBourne]

If the electricity comes from 100% pure coal, then it is nearly 100% swap (assuming that all cars are kept tuned up). However, even with 100% coal, you have a big advantage. You can

1. dump the CO2 into the ground.
2. Run it through a green house.
3. Run it through an algae farm.
4. etc.

Basically, it is much easier said to clean up a single source than millions of tiny ones.

With that said, electricity is actually better, because few countries rely 100% on Fossil Fuel for their Electricity. China probably has the most at more than 90% Fossil Fueled (and growing). America is less than 50% Coal (and dropping) with another 20% Natural gas (rising, but not that fast). Vancouver has a lot of Coal, but they also have Hydro, and IIRC, they have a nuke there (???? not sure about that).