In industry, fossil fuel-fired boilers are commonly used to produce steam or hot water for space and process heating. However, traditional boilers might not be flexible enough to respond quickly to demand surges during peak periods.

To compensate, processors and manufacturers often keep more than the required number of boilers running—usually at less than full capacity. When more steam or heat is required, the units are already in operation and require less time to increase output. However, even burning at 75 percent, fossil fuel boilers take time to heat up internally.

“If you want to use a gas-fired boiler as an auxiliary, you’d better know in advance when you will need it since it takes time for the heat to rise and disperse before reaching the target output [of steam or hot water],” says Robert Presser, vice president of Acme Engineering, a manufacturer of industrial and commercial boilers with operations in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. “If you have gas-fired boilers run at 75-percent capacity, and there is an increase in demand, you cannot quickly reach 100-percent capacity.” 

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