Steam boilers and the European 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 50 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, we will first give a short overview of the whole Ecodesign process. The first step of the Ecodesign process is the Preparatory Study and we consequently present basic elements of such study. Finally, we present findings from the Preparatory Study on industrial steam boilers and discuss them. We find that design improving options for industrial steam boiler are state of the art and established in market. Nevertheless, policy measures under the Ecodesign framework might increase the speed of their diffusion on the market. The resulting overall energy savings for the period from 2016 to 2030 would be 71 TWh. Thus the results of this paper provide policy makers with an understanding of potential energy savings in Europe that would result from equipping new steam boilers with economic energy efficiency options within the Ecodesign framework. Furthermore basic steps of an Ecodesign process are described illustrative.