Environment and Energy
September 14, 2021
DOE Study: Sky's the Limit on Solar Energy
Written by Tim Triplett
What does the rapid advancement of solar energy mean for the steel industry? Solar has major implications, both for the steel it will consume and the energy it will provide. Without solar energy, steelmakers have no chance of reaching their zero-emissions goals over the next three decades.
Even if steel mills can somehow figure out how to cut the Scope 1 carbon-dioxide emissions from their own furnaces – through a combination of more EAFs, greater use of scrap and scrap substitutes, carbon capture, and new breakthrough technologies such as hydrogen-based steelmaking – they will still have to rely on others to reduce the Scope 2 emissions from the generation of the electricity they need.
