How Much Steel Will All Those Wind Turbines & Solar Panels Need, & Can We Make It?

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:35:13 +0000

DALL·E generated image of a stack of steel ingots in a field of wind turbines and solar panels, digital artSteel will not remotely be a constraint for global transformation of energy over the coming decades. We make vastly more of it per year than annual requirements, and there’s an increasing amount of scrap being created.

Read more

Steel’s Outsized Carbon Emissions Will Shrink Rapidly In Coming Decades Even As Demand Rises

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2023 18:35:28 +0000

DALL·E generatred image of feeding scrapped steel into an electric furnace, digital artWith more scrapping and more direct reduction using lower carbon technologies such as Midrex’ DRI and HYBRIT every decade, and the likely creation of those facilities closer to iron ore mines, high-emissions furnaces will go out of business over the coming decades, unable to decarbonize.

Read more

Steel Is A Major Climate Problem, But Can Decarbonize Rapidly In The Coming Decades

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 17:25:18 +0000

DALL·E generated image of a beached oil tanker being cut up for scrap steel, digital artSteel, like concrete, is such an integral part of our world that we rarely notice it. From wherever you are reading this, I guarantee that there is steel in your line of sight, and likely vastly more of it than you realize. Whatever device you are reading it on has steel inside of it. If […]

Read more

Steel Is A Major Climate Problem, But We Have Proven Tools

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:35:18 +0000

DALL·E generated image of a river of hot steel being formed into ingots, digital artWe’ve already manufactured an awful lot of steel. There are hundreds of billions of tons of the stuff lying around, much of it obsolete.

Read more

US Pipelines Contain 4 Years Of US Steel Demand, & Will Be Scrapped For It

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:05:36 +0000

DALL·E generated image of a rusting pipeline in America, digital artWe’ve mined enormous amounts of iron and coal in order to build infrastructure to extract, process, refine, and distribute fossil fuels, and we’re going to have lots of scrap steel to work with.

Read more

The IRA Was Shaped Solely To Achieve Energy Security, Argues Joe Manchin

Credit to Author: Carolyn Fortuna| Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2023 11:30:41 +0000

energy securityThe Senator from West Virginia’s coal country accuses the Biden Administration of elevating “climate goals above the energy and national security of this nation.” Every time he perceives such a move, Manchin says he will refuse to vote for a Biden nominee.

Read more

With Heat From Heat Pumps, US Energy Requirements Could Plummet By 50%

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:25:48 +0000

DALL·E generated image of an industrial plant wasting lots of heat, reddish, digital artElectrification and heat pumps radically reduce the requirement to build new wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, and geothermal primary energy sources.

Read more

Canada’s Oil Pipeline To Nowhere Tripling Costs Could Have Built HVDC Across The Country

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2023 16:05:40 +0000

DALL·E generated image of big pipeline leaking a gusher of dollars, digital artThe Trans Mountain Pipeline was a bad idea from the start. Dropping federal opposition to it in 2016 to bring in the carbon tax was a good choice. Everything after that has been and will continue to be a spiral into the abyss.

Read more

Dismissal Of Methanol As Marine Fuel Leads To Pushback

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:13:45 +0000

DALL·E generated image of a clean electric container ship sailing past islands under a beautiful blue sky with small clouds, digital artMethanol is like hydrogen. Job one is to decarbonize existing uses before inventing new ones. As a marine fuel, it’s not the best choice.

Read more

Manufacturing Hydrogen For Cooling In New York’s Nine Mile Point Nuclear Plant Makes Sense

Credit to Author: Michael Barnard| Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2023 20:35:33 +0000

DALL·E generated image of nuclear hydrogen purple digital artIn February, Nine Mile Point nuclear power station in upstate New York started making its own hydrogen. Normally, this would be the point where I’d do the math and explain why this is a terrible idea, but in this case they got it right. So, what are they doing and why? The Nine Mile Point […]

Read more