Boilers Condensing technology
The heat
is on
The boiler market faces a downturn this year but
pressure from Europe for greater efficiency means
that condensing technology will remain key to a
greener future. Ewen Rose reports
C
ondensing boiler technology has the greatest One key fillip for condensing boilers is the European
potential of any of the low-carbon heating Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive. This will
solutions available, many experts believe. promote wider use of condensing technology and it is
Because renewables will take a long time to likely that, over the next decade, the rules will change
take off, established high-efficiency heating technologies so that only condensing boilers can be specified in
have a real opportunity to make a difference. Europe. The directive also places the emphasis on the
Replacing an ageing standard-efficiency boiler performance of the whole heating system.
with a high-efficiency condensing version will deliver “The directive has the potential to have the biggest
immediate savings and improved comfort – and it is single impact ever on the UK heating market,” says Yan
a quick and affordable way of improving a building’s Evans, technical director of Baxi Commercial Division.
score on its Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or Currently very few installations – even in new-build
Display Energy Certificate (DEC). projects – are designed to extract the maximum energy
And, while both the domestic and commercial boiler saving potential from condensing boilers, according
markets are expected to fall this year, condensing boilers to the ICOM Energy Association. “There’s no point
are still seen as having a key role in cutting emissions continually pushing up boiler efficiencies if the overall
amid a sluggish move towards renewable forms of system does not match,” says the association’s technical
energy generation. director David Hughes.
“Unless we see some major moves from manufacturers “However, when the EuP directive comes into force
and the UK government, we will not see a big shift into we will have no choice but to design the whole system
renewables in the commercial market,” says Andrew Giles of properly.”
the Building Services Research and Information Association Under the directive, from 1 January 2013 heating
(BSRIA). “The UK is in the lead in implementing EU systems will have to be 96 per cent efficient and meet
directives, but we are way behind on incentives for very tough NOx levels restrictions of 20 parts per million
investment in renewables – we don’t offer enough at any (35mg/kWh). Boilers that cannot meet the efficiency
level, compared with other countries,” Giles told a recent figure will have to display a warning label, stating they
CIBSE seminar, ‘Getting the Best out of Boilers’. can be installed in a system only with components that >
www.cibsejournal.com February 2009 CIBSE Journal 59
CIBSEfeb09pp58-62 boilers•.indd 59 5/2/09 14:37:56
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