Why Ice Rinks Have a Bigger Climate Problem Than You Think

In this episode of *Climate Confident*, I’m joined by Viktor Meier, CEO and co-founder of Glice, a company that's transforming ice sports by creating eco-friendly, zero-energy synthetic ice rinks. We dive into the story behind Glice, exploring how Viktor's early commitment to environmental issues led him on a journey to revolutionise ice skating without the environmental cost of traditional ice rinks.

Viktor shares how Glice was born out of a desire to maintain the joy and accessibility of ice sports while tackling some of the massive energy and water demands typically associated with them. Their solution? High-tech synthetic panels that don’t require refrigeration, eliminating the energy and water waste typical of regular ice. Remarkably, each Glice rink can cut energy use comparable to the needs of thousands of homes, making it a powerful tool for sustainability, and emissions reduction. Viktor explains that the product’s durability and ability to be recycled or repurposed at the end of its life add further to its eco-credentials.

We also discuss the broader implications for ice sports as global warming makes natural ice scarcer, even in traditionally cold regions. From the NHL to local communities and even Hollywood film sets, Glice has found a unique niche in over 100 countries, showing how sustainable innovations can be globally adaptable.

So, if you’re interested in how sustainable innovation can preserve the essence of an activity while slashing its carbon footprint, or simply curious about how synthetic ice works, tune in for an insightful conversation with Viktor. 

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Transcript

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Viktor Meier: 0:03

Regular refrigerated ice uses a lot of energy and water. So to just to have an idea, one square meter of of regular refrigerated ice use the same amount of energy and water like an average household. So if you have an Olympic size rink, that's 1,800 homes, right? And, it's huge. It's insane. It's just for a sport, for leisure, right?

Tom Raftery: 0:28

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are in the world. This is the Climate Confident podcast, the number one podcast showcasing best practices in climate emission reductions and removals. And I'm your host, Tom Raftery. Don't forget to click follow on this podcast in your podcast app of choice to be sure you don't miss any episodes. Hi, everyone. Welcome to episode 194 of the climate confident podcast. My name is Tom Raftery. And before we kick off today's show, I want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to all of this podcast's amazing supporters. Your support has been instrumental in keeping this podcast going. And I'm really grateful for each and every one of you. If you're not already a supporter, I'd like to encourage you to consider joining our community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about climate. Supporting the podcast is easy and affordable. With options starting as low as just three euros or dollars. That's less than the cost of a cup of coffee and your support would make a huge difference in keeping the show going strong. To become supporter. You simply click on the support link in the show notes of this, or any episode or visit. Tiny url.com/climate pod. Now in today's episode, I'm talking to Victor Meier from Glice and in the coming weeks, I'll be talking to David Nicholson from Mercy Corps. Ana Nacvalovaite from the University of Oxford. We'll be talking sovereign wealth funds and how they work on climate. John Lang CEO of the Net Zero Tracker and Chris Krueger's CEO of AYK Energy. So some excellent episodes to look forward to, but back to today and without further ado, with me on the show today, as I mentioned, I have my special guest Viktor. Viktor welcome to the podcast. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Viktor Meier: 2:16

Thank you for having me here. Yes. I'm Victor Meier. I'm the co founder and CEO of Glice. We, produce eco friendly, zero energy ice skating rinks around the globe.

Tom Raftery: 2:30

Okay, nice. so Glice is a company based out of Switzerland, and you're producing zero energy, environmentally friendly ice rinks. Tell me a little bit first of all, Victor, about your origin story. You know, how did you, come up with the idea of creating a company to do ice skating on zero energy, et cetera, you know, where did that all come from?

Viktor Meier: 3:00

Well, I always joke that I took a shower and suddenly had that in front of my eyes, you know, ice skating, you know, zero energy. No, it was not like that. It was a pure story of serendipity. And, my interest or my passion to kind of take care of the planet started very young when I was a kid. I remember I was playing always in the woods and there was the Chernobyl accident in, I think, 1986 and we were not allowed to go out and play outside for like three weeks there I realized oh my god, it's we humans we can destroy the whole planet if we want to from then on I knew if one day I build something, I do something, I dedicate myself to something, then it will be something to improve the world especially climate change animal protection, nature protection. So that was, that was the base. And I grew up in an entrepreneur family. My parents were so I had that a bit in, in every. lunch table. We talked about entrepreneurship. Later, when I went to school, actually I thought I want to become a diplomat because I've seen these big climate conferences and stuff and thought maybe that's a way I can contribute. And so I went to diplomacy training. And when I was almost finished, I realized the diplomacy career is very formal, it's very slow. And I could feel that I have like an entrepreneurial, gene in myself and I work different jobs in business marketing and so on. And one day I was working for Phonak, that's, that's a hearing aid company. I was in the global sales and I was, you know, it was, was an interesting job, but it was very corporate. I was sitting in a cubicle and the guy next to me has been there already for 20 years, and I already saw myself how I end up in that cubicle in 20 years. And so I started to look around and for ideas and stuff. And so one day I watched BBC. There was a show about inventors, and there was this short part off of a guy. His name is Tony and he developed this material which looks like ice, it feels like ice, but it's not ice. And, so when I saw that, I immediately googled him. I found his contact number and then I contacted him and said, hey, That's a really cool in innovation, right? And because it combined for me, it's saving, the planet, it's saving CO2 and it's sport. And I also liked sports. So for me, it was like, well, that's it. And we immediately clicked. I skated on the surface. I loved it. I had a few ideas because I was working all over Europe. I was working in US. And had a lot of different business experience. And so, yeah, that was the starting point. And so we set up the company in Switzerland. He took care of innovation, production and so on. And I took care of marketing sales, like the business functions. And that's how it all started.

Tom Raftery: 6:07

That's very cool Victor. So how do you make low energy, environmentally friendly ice.

Viktor Meier: 6:17

So going back to the refrigerated ice, you know, like the reason why my, my business partner started with that product is that a regular refrigerated ice uses a lot of energy and water. So to just to have an idea, one square meter of of regular refrigerated ice use the same amount of energy and water like an average household. So if you have an Olympic size rink, that's 1,800 homes, right? And, it's huge. It's insane. It's just for a sport, for leisure, right? The product, the Glice, it's panels, two by one meter, and they are 20 millimeter thick. It's made of, high grade polymers with different additives like silicon and so on. And it's pressed in a machine very slowly with high pressure, but high heat. And that creates this kind of product, which is very low friction and you can use normally bladed skates. Made of steel, and you can perfectly ice skate on it. And we actually did biometric tests with universities and stuff. And the movement, everything is identical to the conventional ice.

Tom Raftery: 7:34

Wow. And do the metal skates not scratch the surface of it?

Viktor Meier: 7:39

So there is a little bit of scratching. But actually, we soon realized that the more the surface is a little bit scratched, but we talk about micro scratches, the better it glides. So it even improves the gliding, but it's always evenly scratched even after one hour of usage. But it doesn't influence the sustainability of the product. Actually, our product lasts 20 to 30 years After 15 years, you can flip it over and you have a brand new ice skating rink.

Tom Raftery: 8:12

Brilliant. I love it. what happens after the 20 to 30 years, then do you just by a new series of tiles and retile, start over?

Viktor Meier: 8:23

Exactly. So after some time, but also, what can be is that our technology progress go so fast that someone maybe wants to get the latest version and we already done paid buyback and we sold it to clients, you know, who couldn't afford the new one so that can happen. A second possibility is recycling. So we can produce a different kind of polymers with it. With it. And the third one is we have alliance with Habitat for Humanity. And we had some damaged panels and they built refugee homes for Ukrainians with our ice panels. So that's the third option, but it's our panels almost indestructible. So, that use makes sense. Or as I said recycling is also possible.

Tom Raftery: 9:13

Okay. And in your view, how crucial is innovation in tackling climate change? You know, how does Glice fit into the larger picture of sustainability solutions?

Viktor Meier: 9:24

You know, I read once a study and I don't remember the details, but around 70 or 80 percent of humans on this earth, they all agree, hey, we have to tackle climate change, but the people who say they're ready to completely change their life, it's like 4 percent or so. The only way we can keep the standard of living of people and their leisure activities while fighting climate change is through innovation. What we do now, do it without CO2 emission. What we do now without toxins, what we do now without water and so on. So it's only innovation which can solve that problem.

Tom Raftery: 10:07

Okay. And you, you talked earlier as well about the amount of energy that a refrigerated ice rink uses. One square meter is the equivalent of a typical home, was the figure you used, if I remember correctly. What about water? Because obviously typical ice rings are using a lot of water as well, no?

Viktor Meier: 10:25

So the typical ice rink obviously they need a lot of water at the beginning, but then also when you see the resurfacing machine, which removes water and then you add water again, and they actually use hot water to make that. So you have energy again to put it. So there's high water usage and consumption for regular ice rink. And it doesn't stop there. If you have an indoor ice rink humidity is a poison for a nice rink. So you have to have huge air condition system. So they use energy again and so on. So it's a never ending story to freeze an ice rink. And where we come in, we can put an ice rink in any place indoor, outdoor, doesn't matter. Like in Europe nowadays, even the winters are much warmer because of global warming. And it's actually hard to freeze an ice rink outdoors, even in Scandinavia so that's why we have sold our rinks in over a hundred countries. Obviously we also have the tropical countries, they cannot afford to have ice, but we also sold at least three ice rinks to Iceland. Even if they need our solution, they cannot use natural ice anymore, because it's not really getting 100% cold every winter. So you see we really have global warming and we need to do something about it.

Tom Raftery: 11:50

And who are typical customers? Is it sporting organizations? Is it municipalities? Is it hotels? You know, who, Is it hotels You know, who, who normally, who, who wakes up one morning and says, I think I'll buy an ice rink today?

Viktor Meier: 12:08

Well, you nailed it with the examples. I would say that the biggest industry we are serving are municipalities. So they want to have one for, you know, like a permanent one or maybe for the Christmas holidays and so on. And then also sports clubs, hockey teams, the NHL just bought a rink. They want to promote ice hockey around North America and we are planning several rinks with them. Then as we also perfectly said hotels, you know, mostly for holiday seasons, shopping mall but we also have a lot of private people that they build a small glice rink at home for practice. You know, this rule, 10,000 hours to become a champion or a master in any, anything. So the kids who want to be an NHL star, they need to practice daily. And if a Glice rink at home in the basement or in the garden, they can practice every day. But it doesn't stop there. These are the obvious ones, or like the museums, zoos. Any venue where they want to attract people or give them some entertainment. But we also have a lot of movie sets whenever there's an ice rink. You know, they, they, they set up a Glice rink in a studio, make a, make it look like a pond or something. We also have all major players in the car industry because cars need to be tested for skid testing for behavior on ice. And they usually took the cars up to Finland on frozen ice in December. Do all the testing super expensive. Again. A lot of pollution. Now they can have their Glice rink at Honda in Japan or in Germany at Volkswagen or, or, BMW and do the testing every day all year round and like that. Honestly we get around 50 requests for proposal every day. And sometimes it's very interesting to see what shows up because anything is possible. You know, we put an ice rink on top of a skyscraper in Dubai and so on. So everything is possible.

Tom Raftery: 14:19

Wow. Okay, fantastic. And as you said, you're in over 100 countries now, which is incredible. What were some of the challenges you faced in scaling globally? And how did you maintain your commitment to sustainability throughout the process?

Viktor Meier: 14:33

So at the beginning, honestly, our product was too good to be true. So. So no one could believe it. So that was, was almost the first hurdle. The second hurdle was that people, it's the mindset. And I heard that in other innovations, you know, like it's often, it's the people's mindset to change, which is more challenging than the technology itself. And at the beginning, I remember I sent an email to a hockey player and he responded, never ever will I skate on something which is not ice or you know, like just this reaction and this was very hard at the beginning and also every kind they came with a list, you know, like with a list of questions Can you do that? And so it was really very hard to do sell at the beginning. What helped us is at the very beginning and there was an ex NHL player in canada. He heard about us He asked for like a sample, we sent him a sample, he liked it and he set up several hockey training centers all over North America and that kind of got traction and then we were slowly in some, some news or like hockey related magazines and stuff and that just created a bit of the traction and so that was the part, you know, how we've slowly get out of it. Nowadays people order rings and they don't come testing. They, they, they order big, very big rings just over the phone and, and we ship it out to them. And, and so it, completely changed in the meantime.

Tom Raftery: 16:15

And what about the installation process? Is it something that, you can self assemble? Because if you're just shipping it out to them, is it a bit like an Ikea flat pack that you put together?

Viktor Meier: 16:26

It is indeed. Yeah, it's like Ikea. So all the private clients, they get it shipped, the father and son, they install it together and then they skate on it. So it's that easy. For the commercial solutions, we not only sell the ice, we sell the full business package, meaning like the boards, the skates, the skate sharpening machine, the shelves, so everything, and there's a cleaning process, which is on one side very easy, but you need to do it consistently, right? And so we, provide some supervision, some training. We have a Glice Academy where the operators, can get certified in half an hour. So they go through a certification course and like that, we ensure that everyone is well trained and our rinks are perfectly managed and, and like that, but it's, it's really straightforward. In bigger countries like US we normally ship the rink. They install themselves and we are there, you know, on, on support line if they need any help, but they normally manage and some countries, smaller countries, it's the local partner who sets it up and supervises the installation.

Tom Raftery: 17:36

And apart from the water and the energy savings that we talked about already, are there other benefits that users might not immediately think of?

Viktor Meier: 17:46

There are, for example if, if you go ice skate on a, on a regular ice rink and you fall down. It's, it's either extremely hard because ice is very hard, ours is more shock absorbing, so we have much less accidents. Second, if you fall on, on regular ice, unless it's perfectly frozen and good quality ice, it's, it's often a bit wet, so you get wet clothes. Ours is dry. So these are the main ones. The another one is on our eyes. You immediately feel more safe and confident. It's easy to learn, because on the regular eyes you immediately feel it's so hard. If I fall here and then people are scared and tense and on, on Glice, they, they feel a bit more confident to learn faster.

Tom Raftery: 18:35

Nice, Nice, nice. And with climate change affecting natural ice availability, as you've referred to already, how do you see the future of ice sports evolving?

Viktor Meier: 18:47

The future of ice sports obviously is, is, is kind of in danger. Like every, every year we hear and read in the media that ice rinks are closing. First, it's on the economic side because it's very expensive with higher energy prices to run an ice rink. And then it's the environmental reason that you know, you cannot justify to freeze water just for leisure. So this is coming. And then what we discussed before is that, in almost every country now the winters are so warm that you cannot really sustain the refrigerated rink outdoors. So there we come in as well. And we could really feel over the last few years, every year, the demand gets higher for our rinks.

Tom Raftery: 20:02

What about something like the Winter Olympics? Because I know, that obviously happens every four years. Do you see a role for yourselves in that, given the increasing demand for sustainability around the Olympics?

Viktor Meier: 20:17

So, for the Olympics, the rinks are homologated. So, so the, there are rules that, an Olympic games, for example, needs to happen on refrigerated ice. Maybe somewhere in the future, they will change these rules, right? But right now that's the fact. I don't expect that in the next two winter Olympics, they will actually perform the figure skating or so on Glice. What we know for a fact is that in preparation, the athletes use Glice for training and also sometimes we have delivered our Glice rink for the preparation area. If next to the ice rink, they want to warm up and they use our product, but actual competition that's for Olympics. I, I don't see it right now. But who knows in a few years. It's like in soccer, right? You have the artificial grass and the natural grass, and maybe the world championship is still on natural grass. And here's this kind of similar evolution,

Tom Raftery: 21:18

Okay. And you talked earlier about innovation as well. And it's obviously important for creating Glice, but do you use innovative practices in your management and business practices as well, or is it just for creating the Glice product?

Viktor Meier: 21:34

I would say in Glice, the innovation, it's, it's in our DNA and, and actually we have three values in Glice. One is like, you know, dedication, work hard. One is team spirit to really always work together. And the third one is open, innovative mind. So whatever we do, always be open. If, if you get the feedback, don't be defensive, be open, learn and progress. And I think this, this mindset is key for, for us. And we apply that. So everything we do, we ask ourself, how could we do it different? Right. And we, we are a company long before COVID we, we had you know, open schedules, no office. So everyone could work from anywhere they want. We didn't define hours or vacations. So everyone had their clear responsibilities. And, and goals. And as long as you manage that and with a very strong culture, we feel actually people work harder than in a regular company where they, you know, have a presence and stuff. And we almost need to say, Hey, maybe it's time you take some vacation. So it's almost the opposite.

Tom Raftery: 22:49

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs looking to make a positive environmental impact through innovation?

Viktor Meier: 22:57

I would say, you know, like find something you really care about. And, then sometimes you just need to connect the dot. You need to meet all the people. You always find people who know something much better than you do and find them. I can say for example, in Glice every year we try to make the Glice even better, gliding better and so on. And I try to find the specific scientists for this part of the product, this attribute. And you always find, and people are normally very, very helpful. And, they're willing to help. And if they are passionate about your project, they come and help. So just be open, ask always good questions and find people who can help you to the next step. And, I don't know if that sounds like a clear formula, but it's just, you know, openness and that, that will bring you to the to the solution.

Tom Raftery: 23:53

And how can local communities and organizations get involved with Glice? Or do you have initiatives to make your technology available to underrepresented, or underserved areas?

Viktor Meier: 24:07

Yes, we've done actually a number of projects around the world. So sometimes we get requests. Hey, our community in Africa or in Mexico or so we never ice skated. And there was a child, her dream, She was terminally ill but her dream was to ice skate at home. So there were always, you know, this kind of projects coming to us. And we always try to encourage that and find a solution to make that happen. Maybe sometimes ourselves, maybe to get with a sponsor and ourself as well as sponsors. And I tell you, there's nothing more beautiful than. Going to these communities and setting up an ice rink and seeing the eyes of all the kids who have never seen an ice rink and then they can go on it and you help them do the first steps and it's really amazing.

Tom Raftery: 25:01

Lovely. And what are your goals for the future of, of Glice? How do you envision your technology contributing to sustainability efforts on a global scale?

Viktor Meier: 25:12

So right now there are still a ton of refrigerated ice rinks around the world. And, you know, there are different numbers between 12,000 and 20,000 refrigerated ice rinks. And, Olympics aside, and maybe the Stanley Cup of the NHL or so, a lot of these rinks, they, they would work perfectly with our sustainable solutions. So we want to keep converting, helping convert these rinks to, to Glice. Obviously we want to keep evolving our technology. Also we are applying more and more our technology to other sports. For example, the Swiss Bob team is now training for the Olympics on Glice and so on. So, so there are other sports we can apply it and just grow the global community. What we also try to do is that we have a program called Skate for the Planet, where we bring school classes to an ice rink. We do some sustainability awareness workshops and games with them, and then they go ice skating and normally you know, like, like ecological innovation often times it's not very visible. It's maybe a pump below the street and you don't see the innovation, but a Glice rink is a very visible innovation and they can see with their eyes. Wow. Someone used their brain to save tons of energy. And another thing we are already doing now is obviously when we produce our Glice panels, they use CO2 or energy, although very limited for every panel we produce, we plant a tree with another organization. And so our production energy expenditure, our transport travel, it's all compensated. And like that, as a whole, We can be a fully net zero company.

Tom Raftery: 27:09

Okay. And I didn't ask at the start, where did the name Glice come from?

Viktor Meier: 27:15

That's a very good question. I actually went skiing with a friend and I told him about this idea and we were like brainstorming and he asked me, so how is that? And so on. And I said, gliding and so on. And so we ended up in gliding and ice and that's how the name was, was

Tom Raftery: 27:35

Okay. Okay. Left field question. If you could have any celebrity or fictional character alive or dead as a spokesperson for Glice, who would it be and why?

Viktor Meier: 27:50

Spontaneously just thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger, because he's very dedicated to climate change. And actually he was once standing on a Glice rink. I met him. And. And he loved it. He asked me a lot of questions. And at the end, he asked me for my business card. And because I was on a trade show and already gave away all my business cards, I had, I had to scribble on a flyer, my phone number, and I gave it to him. And he said, I'll call you back. But unfortunately he never called me back. So maybe one day he will remember. And contact

Tom Raftery: 28:26

Interesting. I was expecting you to say Elsa from Frozen, but Schwarzenegger is a better answer. Lovely. Super. We're coming towards the end of the podcast now, Victor. Is there any question I didn't ask that you wish I had, or Any aspect of this we haven't talked about that you think it's important for people to be aware of?

Viktor Meier: 28:46

So when we started this we, we immediately realized that it's Glice is almost like a franchise. And so we set up licensed partners in all the countries to, to, to sell Glice and so on. And so I was traveling from the beginning, actually nonstop the first eight years I was traveling. And at the very beginning, our budget was so limited that I stayed in youth hostels. And I remember sometimes I was like talking with my business partner, you know, about stuff. And he asked, why are you whispering? And I said, yeah, because there are other people sleeping next to me. So that's, these are the humble beginnings. That's how we built our little empire of ice skating. But I have very fond memory, you know, of, of, of the starting days,

Tom Raftery: 29:38

Super. Victor, if people would like to know more about yourself or any of the things we discussed in the podcast today, where would you have me direct them?

Viktor Meier: 29:45

Either on our website, it's Glice rink. com. And also if you want, someone wants to follow me, I do a regular posts on LinkedIn. So it's LinkedIn slash Victor Meier, Victor with a K Meier with a I like Italy, so there you can find me.

Tom Raftery: 30:05

I'll put those links in the show notes as well, Victor, so people can find them there too. Super. that's been really interesting. Thanks a million for coming on the podcast today.

Viktor Meier: 30:13

Thank you so much having me here.

Tom Raftery: 30:16

Okay, we've come to the end of the show. Thanks everyone for listening. If you'd like to know more about the Climate Confident podcast, feel free to drop me an email to tomraftery at outlook. com or message me on LinkedIn or Twitter. If you like the show, please don't forget to click follow on it in your podcast application of choice to get new episodes as soon as they're published. Also, please don't forget to rate and review the podcast. It really does help new people to find the show. Thanks. Catch you all next time.