Environmental assessment of boilers for residential use: comparison between condensing and traditional technology using LCA methodology

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two different natural gas boilers for residential use has been performed. The aim of this research was to compare traditional and condensing boilers technologies, considering the whole life cycle. All the transports involved in the entire supply chain of the two products have been considered. Primary data related to the two analysed products have been gathered from a boiler manufacturer of the Reggio Emilia province, whilst Ecoinvent database v2.2 has been used as source of secondary data. The assessment has been performed using the CML and CED methods, by considering the categories required by the EPD certification systems. Results of the analysis show that the condensing technology has a lower environmental impact than the traditional technology in all the impact categories. This is essentially due to the lower fuel consumption required by the condensing technology during the use phase. Another outcome of the study is that the use phase is by far the main cause of environmental burdens, responsible on average by more than 90% of the total impacts.