Gray is the New Green
Being Green More Efficient ain’t Easy
There is no doubt that Green is now in vogue–or Vanity Fair–but there is much work to be done that is not quite as fashionable. This month’s article “Waste Not” in The Atlantic highlights the fact that the American energy economy wastes about 55% of the energy it consumes. Japan in its entirety could be powered by our wasted energy.
Wasted Potential.
Essentially, our inability to harness the steam, furnace gases, heat and pressure that are all involved in our domestic energy production, allows $50 billion to float away in a cloud of smoke. And what is most surprising is that the technological fixes we need to combat this inefficiency are not new, or very expensive for that matter. There has been widespread reluctance to implement these advancements if the pay back period extends two years. Talk about short sighted…
Business as usual remains unchanged for a multitude of reasons. Ranging from technical to cultural, there are certainly some self imposed barriers to entry in this field. But there are some exemplary plants outlined in the article. ArcelorMittal steel mill in East Chicago, Indiana, has capitalized on technology from Primary Energy/EPCOR USA. The results: Purchase of coal-fired power has been halved, carbon emissions have been reduced by 1.3 million tons a year, and they saved more than $100 million. It seems that they are far more equipped to deal with the current energy crisis and the coming energy transition. Their green is a hint grayer.
