Characterization of the U.S. Industrial Commercial Boiler Population

APPENDIX B
METHODOLOGY FOR CALCULATING THE
BOILER INVENTORY
B.1 Methodology for Calculating the Industrial Boiler Inventory
Many reports and studies have been produced on the subject of industrial boilers, but
most are not comprehensive or are out of date. This analysis relies on EEA’s 1996
Analysis of the Industrial Boiler Population, IHS Energy’s MIPD, EPA’s ICCR database,
ICF’s ICI database, ABMA sales data, EIA’s MECS and the 1997 Economic Census.
Two other comprehensive reports, EPA’s Population and Characteristics of
Industrial/Commercial Boilers in the U.S. and DOE/EIA’s Report on the 1980
Manufacturing Industries Energy Consumption Study and Survey of Large Combustors
are based on 1977 data and were determined to be too out-of-date to be useful.
The MIPD, 1996 EEA Analysis and MECS were the primary elements in constructing the
industrial boiler population estimate. Data selected from the MIPD and 1996 EEA
Analysis were the starting point for the inventory. These were augmented with data from
the ICCR and ICF data bases. These sources were judged to represent a good estimate of
larger industrial boilers but were known to be lacking most of the smaller boilers,
particularly those below 50 MMBtu/hr.
The MECS energy consumption is used to estimate the additional boilers to complete the
inventory. ABMA sales databases were used for comparison and to fill in portions of the
inventory where the other sources were incomplete. These “missing” smaller boilers
were referred to as the “incremental” boilers.
The incremental boilers are calculated in three steps: estimating the fuel consumption for
the incremental boilers, calculating the boiler size distribution and capacity factors for
each industry and calculating the size and number of incremental boilers for each
industry. Table B-1 lists the fuel consumption, number of units and capacity of the
incremental boilers.
Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc. B-1