1 Energy Saving Potentials for Industrial Steam Boilers- Findings from the Ecodesign Process

Ecodesign is an important instrument of European energy policy making, which drives technological development and leads to significant energy savings by improving the environmental performance of energy-related products. Minimum energy performance standards and voluntary agreements which have been introduced under the Ecodesign Directive and so far concern more than 20 different product groups. One of the product groups currently investigated for possible regulation includes industrial steam boilers. According to estimates, industrial steam generation systems account for about one third of the overall industrial energy demand. Consequently, increasing energy efficiency in steam generation is relevant for suppliers, users and policy makers. In this paper, findings from the Ecodesign Preparatory Study on industrial steam boilers are presented. According to the predefined methodology for energy-related products, steam boilers with different key characteristics will be defined as base cases. They differ in their thermal capacity, operating pressure and thermal efficiency. Based on a review of energy efficiency measures for industrial steam usage, relevant measures for industrial steam boilers will be identified. Then, the potential increase in thermal efficiency based on techno-economic design approaches for each bas