Europe's cities are turning outdoor ice rinks into roller rinks. How will ours adapt?

Outdoor ice rinks are being replaced by roller rinks in many European cities as they struggle with their costs and environmental impacts in a warming world. But will Canadian cities face similar decisions? And what can be done to keep outdoor skating alive?

Here's a closer look.

It's been a warm winter across much of Canada, making slush of the skating season in many places — including Ottawa, where it was announced last week that the iconic Rideau Canal Skateway would not open this year, for the first time since it was first cleared for skating in 1971.

Earlier that week, in Atlantic Canada, speed skating practices for Canada Winter Games athletes at the Halifax oval were delayed by heavy rain and temperatures of 8 C that left its surface a large puddle.  Meanwhile, the only rinks open in Montreal for much of the winter were refrigerated ones, also known as "artificial ice rinks."

WATCH | Skating cancelled on Rideau Canal:

In other parts of the world, below-zero winter temperatures are already unreliable, and chillers, which require lots of energy to make artificial ice, are crucial.

Many cities in more temperate climates decided to skip their traditional winter ice rinks altogether this year. In some places — such as San Jose, Calif., Monaco, Bad Neuenahr, Germany, and a number of French cities, including Tours  and Gembloux — they were replaced by roller rinks. Another French community, La Test-de-Buch went for a synthetic rink made of plastic.

All blamed high energy costs and many European cities cited the energy crisis linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

That said, the demise of seasonal outdoor rinks is a trend that's been heating up in France for a number of years, where eco-concious municipal governments have been questioning the environmental and financial sustainability of ice skating in its warming climate. 

Martin Cohen, the deputy mayor of Tours, France, in charge of the environment, told the Guardian, "It seemed a bit of an aberration to have an outdoor ice rink when the temperature here at Christmas has been 10-15 C for several years."

WATCH | Tours, France, promotes its Christmas roller rink

In order for a natural outdoor ice rink to survive, the average temperature needs to be below -5 C, says Robert McLeman,  professor of environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. He's also one of the principal investigators of RinkWatch, a citizen science program that tracks the length of the skating season for outdoor rinks across the country.

While this is not yet a problem in the Prairies, McLeman said January temperatures are now near that -5 C threshold in southern Ontario, the St. Lawrence Valley and Atlantic Canada.

Up until now, many communities in those regions have relied on natural ice rinks for outdoor skating in winter. But McLeman says he's getting more inquiries about when they need to make the transition to refrigerated rinks.