2021-02-18, Brussels
Improving the quality of insulation supports the decarbonisation of industry
On 1st March the EiiF (European Industrial Insulation Foundation) will publish its Study “The insulation contribution to decarbonise industry” evaluating the energy and CO2 savings potential in EU 27.
The result shows the power of insulation: About 14 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent) energy could annually be saved if all insulation in industry was upgraded to a quality level equivalent to the VDI 4610 energy class C. This savings potential is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 10 million households or 20 million cars with a combustion engine. As a consequence this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 Mt.
The industrial insulation savings potential in EU 27 is equivalent to:
The study investigates that a big part of the potential comes from consistently insulating any equipment which is currently not insulated but can be insulated. Secondly it is important that regular maintenance programmes are assuring that the energy performance of insulation systems is not reduced over time. According to EiiF the increasing share of uninsulated and/or damaged insulation systems today varies from 2 % to 10 % depending on the temperature profiles of the different industrial processes. The second part comes from improving current insulation systems and to make them more energy efficient.
The prerequisite for harvesting the analysed potential is the quality of the installation and the quality of the insulation material. Only if insulation products perform with high quality and are well installed, the calculated and estimated savings will be achieved.
This emphasizes how important it is, to test insulation products and to certify their quality independently so that well performing insulation systems can play their important part to decarbonise industry.
More information about the EiiF-Study 2021 can be found on www.eiif.org
EiiF - Secretariat of Quality Assurance Committee for Insulation KEYMARK