Characterization of the U.S. Industrial Commercial Boiler Population

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overview
Boilers are a critical component of U.S. commercial and industrial facilities and
operations. They are also a major energy consumer, particularly in the industrial sector.
Despite their importance, the commercial/industrial (C/I) boiler sector is not well
characterized or documented. The objective of this analysis was to characterize the U.S.
C/I boiler population in terms of:
• Application
• Size
• Fuel shares
• Geographic region
• Vintage
• Energy use
There is no comprehensive source of data on C/I boilers, so EEA reviewed a variety of
private and public data sources as the basis for analyzing these issues. This report is
based on composite data developed by EEA. The EEA composite data set is believed to
be a reasonable representation of the population of boilers at industrial and commercial
facilities, but is not a survey or explicit inventory of boilers.
Chapter 2 of this report summarizes the characterization of the boiler population
disaggregated by boiler size, fuel type, industry and region. The linkages between these
characteristics and the factors that drive them are also discussed. Chapter 3 discusses the
commercial boiler population, which also is disaggregated by boiler size, fuel type,
application and region. Chapter 4 reviews historic trends in boiler sales and industrial
boiler energy use. Chapter 4 also discusses the age of boilers in the composite inventory.
Appendix A provides additional background on the data sources for the analysis.
Appendix B discusses the methodology for calculating the boiler inventory and Appendix
C lists acronyms used in the report. Appendix D illustrates the geographic regions used
in the report.
The remainder of this chapter provides some basic background information on boilers
and boiler types.
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