Energy saving incentives for the European glass industry in the frame of the EU emissions trading scheme

Panel: 4. Technology, products and systems

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Christina-Stavrula Hatzilau, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Sotirios Karellas, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Ioannis Dolianitis, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas, Greece
Dionysios Giannakopoulos, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas, Greece
Georgios Skarpetis, Drujba Glassworks, Bulgaria
Theodoros Zitounis, Drujba Glassworks, Bulgaria

Abstract

The European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU – ETS) covers approximately 45% of European GHG and close to 12000 installations. The EU ETS particularly affects the energy intensive industries while it imposes a significant risk of “carbon leakage”, i.e. the risk of EU industry departing to countries with weaker restraints on GHG emissions. The EU Glass industry, being capital intensive and also requiring long investment cycles, is the world's largest glass producer with a market share close to one third of global production. Maintaining its competitiveness is of great significance since not only 80% of its produced volume is traded in the EU but also 100000 persons were occupied in the sector in 2012.

The approach proposed in the present paper will analyse the EU – ETS Glass Industry regarding the balance between allocated European Union emission Allowances (EUAs), verified CO2 emissions and potential shortfall in allowances so as to determine the situation of glass industries and the extent of urge for energy saving activities towards the strengthening of their position within the requirements of the EU ETS phase III (second commitment period: 2013–2020). Projections of the EU market will be taken into account. Technological interventions for CO2 specific reduction in the glass industry and in particular Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) are presented. The replication potential of WHR through batch preheating will be especially addressed since it is considered a promising technology according to the latest Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Glass Industry under Directive IED 2010/75/EU. The paper results into the conclusion that the incentives for energy reduction investments are to an extend only driven by the pressure from the EU-ETS however they are also imposed by other factors such as the cost of energy and the overall cost effectiveness of the installations which are configuring their competitiveness in the European context.