On the way to climate neutrality - what you should know about the space heating of the future
Whether in industry or in private residential construction - anyone deciding today on a heating system or space heating of the future is faced with a lot of question marks. Which energy scenarios will actually determine the future? Which technologies will then become relevant? Is it still worth investing in fossil-fuelled systems? What does the traffic light say? And taking all these questions into account, what is the best heating solution for the hall building in the long term, both functionally and economically?
Hardly anyone still doubts that something has to happen to get man-made climate change under control. The ambitious goal set out in the amended Climate Protection Act is therefore: Germany wants to achieve climate neutrality not by 2050, but by 2045. This means that all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, from power generation and industry to buildings, transport and agriculture, are to be reduced as far as possible. Emissions that cannot be avoided are to be offset by greenhouse gas sinks. To achieve this, the Climate Protection Act sets a specific interim target for GHG emission reductions by 2030, namely by at least 65% compared to 1990. So the target is clear so far.
But how to get there? That raises a lot of questions and causes great uncertainty. Particularly among those who are to decide on investments that extend far into the future. One example of such investments is industrial space heating systems with a life cycle of 15 years or more.
Finally more clarity on the path to climate neutrality
On October 11, 2021, the report of the Copernicus project Ariadne1) was published, a study of more than 50 researchers from 10 institutes who illuminated and evaluated different transformation scenarios towards climate neutrality. This is the first comprehensive and detailed model comparison with robust insights on transformation pathways, scope and bottlenecks. The following key insights can be derived across all scenarios and models:
- the key energy sources in a carbon-neutral energy system are mainly renewable electricity, green hydrogen and green e-fuels, and sustainably produced biomass.
- an increasingly renewable electricity supply is the mainstay of further decarbonization of the energy system.
- increasing energy efficiency alone leads to a 34-59% decrease in final energy consumption by 2045 compared to 2019 in the target scenarios.
And it is also clear, according to the last point: the climate protection targets for 2030 and 2045 are extremely challenging and can only be achieved with massive investments, additional policy measures and infrastructure development in all sectors.
1) Source: Germany on the Road to Climate Neutrality 2045: Scenarios and Pathways in Model Comparison. https://ariadneprojekt.de/publikation/deutschland-auf-dem-weg-zur-klimaneutralitat-2045-szenarienreport/
Hall heating of the future - a summary of the most important points from the coalition agreement of the "Ampel" party
The coalition agreement signed by the "Ampel" coalition government under the title "Mehr Fortschritt wagen" ("Dare to make more progress") has now been on the table for a short time. Despite a constructive spirit for the future, it still contains plenty of uncertainties, according to the DIHK in its first preliminary overall assessment.2) Nevertheless, greater clarity is now emerging as to how the path to climate neutrality can be shaped. The key statements in the coalition agreement are particularly relevant for investors in energy-intensive technologies such as hall heating systems. We have summarized them for you with reference to page and paragraph of the coalition agreement:
P. 27 - "Economy" chapter "Industry" keyword
- We advocate the establishment of a European Union for Green Hydrogen.
- To this end, we want to [...] financially support investments in the development of a hydrogen network infrastructure.
- In this way, we want to become the lead market for hydrogen technologies by 2030.
- [...] for an initiative to establish an international climate club open to all countries with a uniform minimum CO2 price and a common CO2 border adjustment.
P. 59f - Chapter "Climate, Energy, Transformation" Keyword: "Gas and Hydrogen"
- An energy infrastructure for renewable electricity and hydrogen is a prerequisite for Europe's ability to act and compete in the 21st century.
- We are accelerating the massive expansion of renewables and the construction of modern gas-fired power plants to meet the growing demand for electricity and energy over the next few years at competitive prices.
- The gas-fired power plants that will be needed until supply is secured by renewables must be built in such a way that they can be converted to climate-neutral gases (H2-ready).
- Natural gas is indispensable for a transitional period.
- We want to press ahead as quickly as possible with the development of an efficient hydrogen economy and the import and transport infrastructure required for this.
P. 60 - Chapter "Climate, energy, transformation" Keyword: "Grids"
- Electricity and hydrogen networks are the backbone of the energy system of the future.
P. 90 - Chapter "Building and housing" Keyword: "Climate protection in the building sector"
- [We] amend the Building Energy Act (GEG) as follows: By January 1, 2025, every newly installed heating system is to be based on 65 percent renewable energy.3)
- In the GEG, new construction standards will be aligned with KfW-EH 40 by January 1, 2025.
- In addition, measures equivalent to the GHG emission reduction target can be used under the innovation clause.
- We rely on measures that are tailored to fit and open to technology [...].
- We will continue to develop and restructure the funding programs in line with the goals and needs.
In summary, this means: Green electricity and green gas (hydrogen) are the energy carriers on the way to climate neutrality. The importance of natural gas as a bridging technology is confirmed - the fossil energy source with the lowest carbon content will continue to be usable. And this is also emphasized: in addition to renewable energies, equivalent measures that follow the goal of GHG emission reduction, such as increasing energy efficiency, are recognized.
2) Traffic light coalition agreement in the federal government 2021. First, preliminary overall assessment © Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag e.V. (DIHK) | Berlin | Brussels, as of November 2021.
3) Decentrally heated halls (zones) with room heights > 4 m are exempt from the obligation to use renewable energies to cover heating and cooling energy requirements (GEG).
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Highly efficient and flexible: decentralized gas-fired hall heating systems flank the path to climate neutrality
These statements provide clarity that natural gas-powered decentralized infrared hall heaters will remain the golden standard in hall heating in the longer term. There are good reasons for this, as the heating systems, which have been specially developed for the physical conditions of hall buildings, are clearly superior to most technical alternatives in terms of energy efficiency and economy for room heights > 4 m. Due to their high energy efficiency and very low peripheral losses, infrared heating technologies type dark radiators such as those from KÜBLER realize energy savings of between 30 and 70 percent. They can already meet the requirements of the 2030 climate targets. Added to this are the relatively low investment costs. And by the way, the high-efficiency technologies from the Ludwigshafen-based hall heating specialist can already be operated with biogas4) today and are H2-ready. This means that as soon as hydrogen is available to you, you can mix it in with a reliable proportion of 20% by volume (and increasingly more) without any problems.
The flexibility of dark radiator type hall heaters is another convincing feature when it comes to heating production, storage and other hall buildings. The decentralized gas-powered solutions have extremely short heat-up or shutdown times compared with hot-water-based technologies. This means that your hall heating system can respond immediately to additional shift operations or even to changes in the outside temperature - so you don't have to heat up after yesterday's weather. Because the units only require a small amount of space under the ceiling, there is plenty of room for use. And unlike underfloor heating systems, your hall floor also gives you full flexibility, e.g. for changes in machine set-up.
4) Prepared to natural gas quality
What will the space heating of the future look like?
The energy sources of the future are called renewable electricity and green hydrogen. What does this mean for the technology issue? KÜBLER, the innovation leader for energy-saving hall heating systems, essentially sees these options here. First: The hall heating of the future will continue to be based on natural gas or liquid gas in the long term due to its high efficiency. Second: An increasing proportion of green gases will be added to the fossil gases - until the technical challenges of producing and distributing hydrogen are solved and the systems run on 100 % hydrogen. Exactly when this will be remains open at present.
Condensing boiler technology makes high savings potentials in companies usable
"No energy turnaround without energy efficiency" is the title of dena's "Topics and Projects" section on its homepage "The best kilowatt hour is the kilowatt hour saved," says Thomas Kübler, managing partner of KÜBLER GmbH. Both mean the same thing: It's all about curbing energy consumption in general and especially in companies. After all, this is where enormous leverage lies for achieving climate targets. And not only that: energy efficiency also pays off economically if it is approached in the right way technologically. Modern infrared heating technology plays an important role here, especially when intelligently combined with condensing technology.
Condensing technology converts waste heat into usable energy
The special feature of condensing technology is that it extracts the condensation heat (called calorific value) from the waste heat of heating systems, makes this energy content usable and thus significantly increases the overall efficiency of the systems. Depending on the fuel, this is referred to as oil or gas condensing technology. In short, condensing technology is characterized by the fact that it increases the degree of energy utilization and thus energy efficiency.
How waste heat recovery with condensing technology works
The operating principle of condensing technology is basically quite simple. Explained using the example of infrared heating, the energy contained in the exhaust gas is cooled to the point of condensation and the heat thus obtained is transferred to a storage medium (usually water). The heated water is fed to a buffer storage tank, from where it is fed into an ordinary pumped hot water heating network as required. Water is ideal as a storage medium, but other media such as air can also be used and harnessed in hot air blowers, for example.
Start by identifying and reducing your sources of waste heat
It's not just heaters that generate waste heat; depending on the mode of operation, waste heat is generated in a wide variety of places. Furnaces, machinery (especially air compressors), cooling systems and or uninsulated pipes are probably the classics. Get to the bottom of the causes of unused waste heat by thoroughly analyzing and evaluating energy consumption throughout the company. Afterwards, it is important to avoid or at least reduce unnecessary waste heat by optimizing processes. The following questions will help:
- Can you avoid idle times?
- Are all systems/processes really running efficiently, or is there still a screw that can be turned here and there?
- Are some processes perhaps oversized?
- Are there heating or cooling phases that would not be necessary in practice?
- Do you maintain your machines and systems regularly?
- Do you insulate sufficiently?
With a comprehensive analysis, you can already save quite a bit of waste heat. And the rest? It's best to use it wisely, depending on your requirements.
Use the energy gained from condensing boiler technology wisely
The practical thing about condensing boiler technology is that you can use the waste heat in a variety of ways for greater energy efficiency in your company. "Hybrid heating" is an important keyword here. After all, waste heat can play a major role in hot water preparation or heating rooms. While this variant of waste heat utilization has already become established in many private households, it is still far from being used everywhere for heating hall buildings. Yet this segment of buildings has a reputation for consuming a particularly large amount of energy, if only because of the dimensions of the space involved. There is great potential for savings here. In the industrial sector, for example, the recovered energy can be used for service water or for hot water-based (hybrid) heating. This is often useful for office or social rooms, which are typically connected to halls. In the sports sector, hot water is readily used in sanitary areas, especially for shower rooms. Warm air can be used to supplement energy-efficient infrared heating - where appropriate - via warm air blowers.
Bundle your energy flows for more energy efficiency
It is not only the waste heat from heating systems that can be harnessed; numerous other heat flows in the hall building also offer interesting potential for increasing efficiency. Namely, when you intelligently combine condensing boiler technology and heating. One example is the H.Y.B.R.I.D. infrared heating system from the Ludwigshafen-based hall heating specialist KÜBLER. The fully integrated solution offers a great deal of flexibility in integrating different technologies and energy sources. For example, the hybrid system can harness energy flows from the process (machines, compressors, etc.) at the same time as the heating waste heat. At a textile machine manufacturer in North Rhine-Westphalia, the energy flows from heating, hardening furnaces and compressors were combined in this way. Since then, the heat demand of 1,200 m² of office space can be completely covered by the residual heat utilization.
In addition, there are a large number of other possible combinations. Particularly interesting in view of the usually large roof areas of industrial buildings is the fact that the hybrid system, which has won several awards (including "Germany's Most Sustainable Product", German Sustainability Award 2012), can also integrate renewable energies such as solar thermal energy (keyword: Helio.B.R.I.D.). Heat pumps can also be integrated. In addition, the hybrid system is the basis for the implementation of digital hall heating (e.g. WÄRME 4.0), which makes it possible, among other things, to continuously drive the system operation to the ideal line through real-time monitoring of current consumption. The combination of condensing boiler technology and energy-saving heating technology therefore allows you to ensure greater energy efficiency in your company in a variety of ways.
Why you should keep your company and climate targets in mind at the same time
Only about half of German companies are aware of their waste heat potential - that's what dena writes in its publication on waste heat utilization as part of the Initiative EnergieEffizienz . This means that an estimated 226 TWh of usable heat goes unused every year. That is 36 % of the energy share of the entire manufacturing industry. Clearly, this costs companies an immense amount of money, but at the same time the unused waste heat pollutes the environment. Around 60 million tons of the greenhouse gas CO2 evaporate unnecessarily into the atmosphere every year. Companies can and want to afford the nowadays in view of rising energy costs and climate protection targets simply no longer allow.
Make environmental protection your economic efficiency measure
The fact that waste heat recovery with condensing technology takes place with virtually no additional consumption costs should be of great interest to many hall operators. In total, up to 15 percent heat can be recovered and made usable through the integrated KÜBLER residual heat recovery in the hybrid system. Thomas Kübler, founder and managing partner of KÜBLER GmbH Energiesparende Hallenheizungen: "This figure, in addition to our already extremely energy-efficient infrared systems, marks a quantum leap in economical and environmentally friendly hall heating. In the overall system, energy savings of up to 70 percent* can be realized."
* Compared to conventional technologies
How the combination of condensing boiler technology and IR heating pays off in practice
Practical examples show how these values pay off for hall operators. CO2 emissions were reduced by around 65 % by modernizing the heating system with the KÜBLER H.Y.B.R.I.D. system in a production hall belonging to the AZO group of companies in Osterburken. Specifically, from approx. 226,400 kg p. a. to approx. 79,800 kg annually. Greater energy efficiency was also the focus at Reiners + Fürst. The textile machine manufacturer also achieved energy savings of around 65% by refurbishing its production and storage areas to improve energy efficiency. In concrete terms, the savings here amount to around 46,5000 euros and 299 t of CO2 emissions per year. Incidentally, Reiners + Fürst was awarded first place in the Energy Masters Award in the Buildings category in 2014 for the renovation of the hall heating system and the integration of residual heat utilization for hall heating, compressed air and curing oven in the H.Y.B.R.I.D. system.
The bottom line: Hybrid heating with condensing technology pays off - especially in financial terms!
Those who have to purchase less energy to generate heat save cash. That's crystal clear. How this translates into concrete figures depends on various factors, such as:
- The type and size of your business
- The volume to be heated
- The number of processes that generate waste heat
- The heating system you use
Conclusion: Optimization potential can be found in a wide variety of places
Hall modernization, proper insulation, highly efficient heating systems, and even condensing boiler technology and other options for contemporary waste heat utilization: there are many ways to increase your company's energy efficiency and reduce costs. Feel free to contact us and let us discuss how you can usefully reuse the waste heat from your heating and production processes instead of disposing of it unused through the chimney.