Energy Academy
Heat Recovery Fundamentals3 / 13

Matching Supply to Demand & Economics

When recovery works: sink availability, temperature match, load profiles, payback.

10 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026


A waste heat recovery project succeeds only when four things line up: a source, a sink, compatible temperatures, and coincident timing. Miss any one and the economics collapse, however hot the source or however green the intent. This lesson turns that into a repeatable appraisal: the four conditions as a checklist, worked through with numbers that show how decisively the timing match, in particular, governs payback.

In this lesson

  • 01The four conditions
  • 02Why timing dominates the economics
  • 03Improving the match
  • 04Sources and further reading