Energy Requirements and Environmental Constraints

Abstract

The importance that has been attached since 1973 to the conservation of energy in industry and in the home, following the first of several sharp rises in oil prices, cannot have escaped the attention of even the most casual observer of human affairs. Nor can he be unaware of the value set by society at large on the maintenance of clean air and water. The steel industry, being a large consumer of energy in the form of fossil fuels whether directly or indirectly as electricity, has long been conscious of its short-term energy costs, although recent events have served to bring these costs more sharply into focus. Energy availability in the longer term, is a cause for concern within the wider community and attracts the attention of individuals both inside and outside steelmaking. Likewise, interest in protection of the environment from unwanted industrial pollutants, including noise, is not nowadays confined to steelplant personnel and their immediate neighbours. Currently, more emphasis than in the past is being placed by governments, by professional bodies and by others on the social responsibilities of engineers in industry, and it is for this reason that the two issues of energy usage in steelmaking and environmental safeguards are discussed in this chapter.