We love steel. Our products depend on it. All Hamilton caster rigs are made of steel. Our most popular wheels have a steel component too them. And, of course, our carts and trailers are made of steel. Steel, steel, steel.
But the steel industry is one of the world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide. That’s not so hot for our environment. So you can bet we paid attention to this recent Wall Street Journal article about steel is being sourced more responsibly by one of biggest sectors we serve: the automotive industry.
Facing pressure from regulators, investors and more conscious consumers, car companies are embracing innovative ways to develop and use lower-carbon steel. BMW’s venture capital fund, for example, is investing in a Boston startup that has developed a process to melt iron ore using electricity instead of burning coke. On the other side of the pond, HYBRIT, a partnership between a mining firm, an electric utility, and a steel company, is already delivering low-carbon steel for Volvo. And Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz will soon follow suit.
The production process of steel is notorious for being hard to decarbonize, since the majority of it relies on coking coal. But HYBRIT uses renewable power to produce hydrogen and then combines it with iron ore to create a porous material called sponge iron. The trend couldn’t come at a better time. The auto industry is already feeling the squeeze on conventional steel prices and other raw materials due to shortages caused by the pandemic.
It’s a low-carbon diet we can all get behind.