INDUSTRIAL FURNACES/BURNERS. A REVIEW ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION FOCUSING ON ECODESIGN

The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate briefly, the diachronic course of the European Eco-Design legislation, regarding the industrial furnaces and the associated equipment such as burners, in terms of its environmental aspects. Simultaneously, the potential mandatory future requirements and policy options assessed by the European Union's authorities will be depicted, launching the first discussions for the final official measures. More specifically, in 2005, the initial version of the Eco-Design Directive for Energy using Products (EuPs), was published. After this, a Working Plan in 2008 listed the product groups which were considered as a priority for implementing measures for the 2009-2011 time period. Ten product groups were prioritized, due to certain specifications: i) the volume of sales and trade of units per year within the European Community, ii) considerable environmental impact, including high energy consumption, long operating time, emissions, waste generation and other, iii) significant potential for improvement. The 'industrial and laboratory furnaces and ovens' product group, was included. Subsequently, in 2009, the recast of the initial (2005) Directive was presented, setting the basic policy framework affecting Energy related Products (ErPs) in the European Union's 27 Member States. On this cause, a preparatory study was launched in 2010 resulting to a final report that was published in September 2012. The abovementioned directives, escorted by the corresponding preparatory studies, working plans and recasts, compose the environmental legislation focusing on Eco-Design. The literal target of this legal process is to set the frame of the mandatory requirements, leading to specific and strict implementing measures for each product group and in our case, the products related with the industrial furnaces.