Monitoring of a waste heat reduction and utilisation program in the commercial sector

As part of Germany’s National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, the „Waste heat use initiative“ has been underway. Under its program 294, the Reconstruction Credit Institute (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, KfW) is providing loans and redemption subsidies for implementation of waste heat utilisation concepts in the German private sector. By tapping into this potential, energy consumption, CO2 emissions and energy bills will be reduced. Individual measures comprising a waste heat utilisation concept range from insulation of equipment, waste heat recuperation for company’s internal or external applications, as well as more ambitious measures such as feeding waste heat into district heating networks or converting it into electricity.

After its first 12 months, the results of the program 294 were to be assessed. A monitoring project was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, BMWi), which evaluated the submitted waste heat utilisation concepts. These represented the core of every application and provided the most relevant technical and financial aspects, as well as insight into factors that shaped the decisions leading up to the final concept. Lessons and guidelines for further development of the program were derived from this assessment. 

Besides adelphi, the project consortium consisted of the German energy agency (Deutsche Energieagentur, dena) and Fraunhofer ISI. adelphi was principally responsible for the evaluation of individual waste heat utilisation concepts.