Product Profile: Outdoor Radiant Gas Heaters

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Summary

This report was commissioned by the E3 Committee to explore potential energy and greenhouse savings through improvements to outdoor radiant gas heaters in Australia.

Over 24 manufacturers and suppliers produce more than 200 different types of outdoor radiant gas heaters in the Australian market place. The large majority of these products are imported from China.

The main applications for outdoor heating are in hospitality, residential, industrial, agricultural and outdoor leisure. These heaters have been designed for specific applications ranging from very small, portable, butane-fired camp heaters to very large, natural gas-fuelled heaters used for heating large, open-plan workshops, factories and even livestock pens.

For the past three to four years, around 100,000 outdoor radiant gas heaters units have been sold in Australia per annum. Research suggests there are 500,000 outdoor radiant gas heaters in total nationwide.

The catering and hospitality sector has largely reached saturation and only a modest growth of 2 per cent per annum is expected over the next decade. The residential sector has significant growth potential and is forecast to reach 900,000 units in 2020. Despite this growth, emissions from this sector are predicted to be low due to minimal usage throughout the year. Aggregate greenhouse gas emissions for all outdoor radiant gas heaters for the period 2010 to 2020 are expected to be low (approx. 1,240 kilotonnes CO₂-e).

The potential greenhouse gas emission reductions from the introduction of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) or other forms of regulation are not expected to be justifiable, given the cost of such a program to the public and industry. However, E3 has committed to review options for improving the efficiency of outdoor radiant gas heaters in 3 years.

This page last modified 06 September 2010