WARE, Inc. challenges public perception of steam boilers as old, outdated technology, citing multiple reasons to consider modern steam boilers as “green” technology.
Louisville, KY (PRWEB) July 26, 2023 -- AN INSTITUTION
According to Ware, one of the most prominent reasons that boilers should be regarded as green technology has to do with the fact that they are literally a foundation of the world’s commercial infrastructure. Right now, steam is a key part of many of the world’s most important industries, touching about 80% of all products consumed globally.
Ware cites several examples: A substantial number of manufacturing facilities rely on steam to create the machinery that keeps the assembly lines running; hospitals rely on steam for heat and for the sterilization of surgical instruments; schools and universities rely on steam to keep classrooms warm, and the list goes on.
As Ware rightly points out, all of that infrastructure can’t all be replaced overnight. Furthermore, replacing a steam boiler system requires a lot of heavy lifting, and often some demolition and rebuilding. That would all take additional energy to accomplish.
“Even if you do all of that, said Ware, “then there’s the matter of what you’re replacing the steam system with a lot of so-called ‘green’ technology, especially electricity, has a much higher back-end cost than people realize.”
Ware also points out that even if the world switches to 100% electricity to replace fossil fuels, that power has to be generated somehow. Right now, that means using fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.
“When it comes to wind and solar,” said Ware, “there’s also the matter of storing the electricity. As demand for batteries increases, so does the demand for toxic materials used to make them. Not only are many of these substances extremely hazardous to mine, processing them generates a lot of hazardous waste.”
For the time being, boilers are the most viable alternative for steam, says Steven Taylor Director of the Rental Boiler Division at WARE. As heat technology advances, though, additional fuel sources like solar energy, bio-gas, hydrogen, and even ammonia may become an even more viable way to fire a boiler to provide steam. But for now, steam is not going away.
PHYSICS
Another reason that Ware believes boilers to be green tech has to do with heat transfer, and physics tends to agree with him. Currently, there is no more efficient way to transfer low-pressure heat through a wide distribution network than via steam. Hot air and hot water have temperature limitations. Steam, however, can be delivered at temperatures exceeding 1250 degrees.
Classroom heating, manufacturing, textile production, sterilizing the equipment in operating rooms, and food manufacturing, no matter what the need, there’s no better way to move heat from the point of generation to the point of use than STEAM.
RECLAMATION
As part of its green classification, Ware also points out that burner/boiler technology has come a long way in the past 70 years, and a lot of the major advancements have been in the area of efficiency. For example, optimized burners can now get more out of every fuel dollar through complete combustion. Furthermore, economizers allow a boiler system to reclaim a tremendous amount of usable heat from the stack that can be utilized to preheat feedwater or process water to reduce the load on the furnace.
PUBLIC PERCEPTION
Perhaps the public’s biggest perception problem with steam, believes Ware, has to do with the steam they see every day. Many manufacturing plants seem like they are venting white vapor into the air that may look like smoke, but that smoke is actually condensing steam venting into the atmosphere. Steam that is being used to scrub harmful waste materials out of exhaust gasses and actually make the air cleaner. Thus, the notion that STEAM-powered facilities are pouring particulates into the air like so many old-time locomotives just isn’t true. With the advancements of burners being able to burn at 9 ppm NOx and the ability to use a SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system, the steam that is produced today is actually produced with cleaner stack emissions than ever. Which creates one more reason Ware, and many like him, believe steam will be around for many, many years to come.
Ritchie Ware, WARE, http://www.wareinc.com, 1 800-228-8861, [email protected]
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