The American Boiler Manufacturer Association's technology conference in Denver was both eventful and educational. It provided valuable insights into recent advances in traditional boiler technology, boiler water treatment, and safety. The conference also featured panel discussions on key issues facing the boiler industry, such as the growing challenge of finding qualified personnel to manufacture and maintain modern boilers.

 

Many might find it surprising that nearly everything around us is created through industrial processes that rely on massive amounts of steam. Every single piece of clothing we wear, the desks we sit at, the paper in our printers, the plastics encasing our electronics, the carpet beneath our feet, the paint, gypsum, and insulation in our walls, the fertilizer needed to grow the salad we have for lunch, the ingredients in cosmetics—and even the refining processes for the gasoline or diesel we use directly or indirectly every day— is all done with steam. And that’s not even countingits role in electricity production.

 

One panelist quipped, quite rightly, that if the professionals attending the ABMA conference decided not to go to work and operate the world’s boilers, modern society would slide back into the Middle Ages in a matter of weeks.