Their study, led by the University, cautions that national strategies for replacing fossil fuels with renewables need an integrated approach to energy use and material production – or risk industry being unable to use electricity produced from renewable sources.
Their study, led by the University, cautions that national strategies for replacing fossil fuels with renewables need an integrated approach to energy use and material production – or risk industry being unable to use electricity produced from renewable sources.
Ensuring that no electricity is produced from fossil fuels by 2050 is essential for achieving net zero. But its effect will be limited if industry cannot use this electricity. Steel manufacturing alone accounts for a tenth of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in industrialised countries but latest estimates suggest new technologies to manufacture steel using electricity – as opposed to fossil fuels – will not become fully operational until at least 2040.
Aluminium, which provides significant weight and energy savings compared to steel when used in transport systems, is produced using electricity and its manufacture currently accounts for 3% of all CO2 emissions. Yet since 2000 two thirds of world production of aluminium has switched from countries such as the UK – which used nuclear power – to China and Persian Gulf countries, which mainly generate electricity from fossil fuels.
Read more at: University of Leeds
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