Ottobrunn – ice sports in the energy crisis – district of Munich

The new plastic floor can take a beating. 100 children and young people, for example, in full gear during training, but also 500 celebrating adults with beer tent sets, as was the case recently at the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the ice and roller sports club in Ottobrunn (Ersco). At Ersco, as they say in the club themselves, they are proud of the new surface in the ice stadium on Haidgraben, for which they fought for so long and which now allows the club to train continuously from spring to autumn – until the ice comes . When it comes.

“Of course, it would be a disaster for us as a club if no ice was made,” says Deputy Chairman Michael Guggenberger. The energy crisis is raising a number of questions these days – for example, whether the cooling will be turned on in the only ice rink in the district of Munich in mid-September. And how a club deals with it.

Ersco is an up-and-coming club in Bavaria. “Among the top five in Bavaria when it comes to growth. Despite Corona, we’ve grown enormously over the past five years,” says Guggenberger, who coaches the U-15 juniors. The ice hockey cracks play in the state league, as do the men who only got promoted in March. At the Ersco, where figure skating and speed skating are trained in addition to ice hockey, they also focus on performance in addition to popular sport – and that has consequences. The club is currently on an admissions freeze, last season alone the club had to turn down 60 children who actually wanted to start training – across all divisions. “In the U15s alone, we had to tell four children we couldn’t go on in Ottobrunn,” reports Coach Guggenberger. The reason is very simple: the capacities in the ice rink are still incredibly limited. A failure of the ice in winter would actually be the worst case.

This summer, however, there will be a new test phase, as Guggenberger says – thanks to the new floor, which opens up completely new possibilities for the Ersco. When it rained earlier, you couldn’t train on the concrete floor in the ice rink for two days because it was too slippery. Now there is a non-slip surface that costs a little more than 60,000 euros, which opens up training opportunities throughout the summer and into autumn. But that’s still not enough. Actually, according to Guggenberger, the club needs a second ice rink, from which the entire south-eastern district of Munich would also benefit.

In September, the new plastic floor will be dismantled and stored by the Ottobrunn building yard. Then the cooling should actually be started to create the ice surface. Almost a bit late compared to other clubs. The Starbulls Rosenheim, for example, have been training on ice in the stadium since the beginning of August while the heat is brewing outside. At the EHC Klostersee in Grafing, they have long been cornering on ice. But not a few ask themselves whether this is still appropriate in the light of climate change and the energy crisis. Michael Guggenberger says that the question of meaningfulness is raised again and again. “Not just since today, but for 20 years. But if you start now, you have to stop doing the sport,” said the coach. But of course the question of energy efficiency plays a major role and also drives him, says Guggenberger.

Planegg discusses a plastic track

Incidentally, so do the Planegger municipal councils, who this Thursday, August 18, in the holiday committee will deal with the question of what the popular “Ice Wonder” at the Feodor-Lynen-Gymnasium should look like in the future. In concrete terms, it will be a question of whether the ice surface will be produced conventionally with electricity as before or whether the municipality should buy a rink made of artificial ice. Such an area, which does not require electricity or water, could also be used in warmer temperatures.

Open detailed view

So the discussion about saving energy also reaches sport. And he doesn’t want to stand idly by. Of course, the creation of an ice surface uses a lot of electricity, says the Ottobrunn Guggenberger, but he cannot say exactly how much; as a result, the maintenance of the ice surface is no longer as energy-intensive. From his point of view, however, there is a way to produce the ice in a quasi climate-neutral manner – and he is quickly back to a second ice surface. With a photovoltaic system, an ice surface can be operated almost independently; an area of ​​one hectare would be sufficient to cover the energy requirements, says Guggenberger. In his view, a second ice rink can also be realized quickly: “With a mobile ice surface and an air dome above it. You can set it up within two months.”

In Ottobrunn alone, suitable plots of land are still lacking. The smallest municipality in the district in terms of area is poor in terms of its own areas. So Guggenberger dreams of a bigger solution. “Intra-communal, county-wide,” he says. “Politicians are also responsible for that. You can use an area like this for everything. For events, concerts, culture, or you can put a beach volleyball court on it in the summer.” And then in winter comes the ice, generated by green electricity from the solar system right next door.