It requires less energy than traditional methods, particularly if renewable energy powers the furnace and generates the hydrogen. The scrap is melted in an electric arc furnace and uses hydrogen, rather than coke, to process iron ore. This reduces the labor needed to produce the same amount and quality of steel as traditional production methods, and it accounts for about 70 percent of the nation’s output. When products made of traditional, coke-based steel have reached the end of their useful life, they can be returned to the furnace and recycled almost infinitely. Technological improvements and pressure to reduce emissions have led to increased use of leftover, or “scrap,” steel during production. About 70 percent of today’s steel is made that way, much of it produced cheaply in countries with lax environmental regulations. Old-school steel manufacturing relies on metallurgical coal - that is, high-quality, low-moisture coal, which still releases carbon, sulfur dioxide, and other pollutants. The industry generates 7.2 percent of all carbon emissions worldwide, making it more polluting than the entire European Union. In a world struggling to keep global climate change below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the traditional coke-based process of making steel, which uses coal to power the furnaces that melt iron ore, remains a big problem. “Regional jobs supported by traditional steelmaking are expected to fall by 30 percent in the same period.” “A transition to fossil fuel-free steelmaking could grow total jobs supported by steelmaking in the region by 27 percent to 43 percent by 2031, forestalling projected job losses,” the study noted. meet that goal, make its steel industry competitive again, and employ a well-paid industrial workforce. It argues that as countries work toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, a green steel boom in western Pennsylvania could help the U.S. But even as demand for this essential material climbs, so too does the pressure to decarbonize its production.Įarlier this month, the progressive Ohio River Valley Institute released a study that found a carefully planned transition to “green” steel - manufactured using hydrogen generated with renewable energy - could be a climatic and economic boon. Despite ongoing supply chain hiccups and inflation, demand continues growing globally, particularly in Asia. Jobs declined 49 percent between 19, when increased efficiency saw the sector operating at its highest capacity in 14 years. Though President Trump promised a return to the idealized vision of American steelmaking that Bruce Springsteen might sing about, the industry has changed since its initial slump four decades ago. Bustling mills linger along the Monongahela River and around Pittsburgh, but employment has been steadily winding down for decades. At its height in 1910, Pittsburgh alone produced 25 million tons of it, or 60 percent of the nation’s total. In the Mon Valley of western Pennsylvania, steel was once a way of life, one synonymous with the image of rural, working-class Rust Belt communities.
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