Steel
Thu 11:37 am +00:00, 11 Jul 2024 4Steel making
The new government says it supports the same policy as the old government for the steel industry. The main imperative is to cut U.K. CO 2 output. That means shutting down U.K. blast furnaces to make new steel because they need fossil fuel to heat and smelt. We then import the new steel we need. This adds to world CO 2 because of the diesel ships to get it here and maybe from higher CO 2 in the manufacture. This surely is madness. As a consolation prize the aim is to get recycling plant put in instead. This can be fired by electricity . On a good day 50% of that could come from renewables.On a bad day it would be burning gas and wood that generated the power. Recycled steel can be used as a replacement for some uses. It is also bad news for taxpayers as the companies considering putting in a recycling plant will only do so if they receive large taxpayer subsidies. Labour are dangling £2.5 bn of taxpayer cash for electric arcs and blast furnace closures. The industry will probably demand more. The new Minister is sitting down with Port Talbot Unions to see what more can be done for all those facing the sack as the blast furnace closes. I do not expect any change of overall policy. Why does this government like the last want to stop us making steel? Why do they think it fine to import it with no world CO 2 gain? Why don’t they see we need to make more here? Why don5 they see you need to be able to make your own steel for national security? |
Electric arc steelmaking requires scrap metal as its raw material and the quality of the finished steel is dependant on the scrap metal.
Would you build a ship or bridge using recycled steel from Port Talbot, or new steel made by a blast furnace in India or China?
With the UK having expensive electricity, will it be able to compete on price from foreign steel plants?
“The quality of molten steel is greatly affected by scrap steel, the smelting period is longer, and the power consumption is larger. According to the above, the electric arc furnace uses scrap steel as the main raw material. During the smelting process, more impurities may be introduced into the molten steel, resulting in low quality of the molten steel.”
I read back in the days of Thatcher that she was put there to de-industrialise the UK and turn it into a service economy.
When it came to Maastricht, she refused to sign and was therefore kicked aside for someone more compliant. She had however already done her worst.
“ON THE day that Mrs Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party she had lunch at N. M. Rothschild & Sons, the British arm of the Rothschild banking empire.”
“Indeed John Redwood, although he had not yet become an MP, was at Rothschild Asset Management be- fore he took over at the No. 10 policy unit.”
https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/15th-october-1988/9/the-privateers-of-privatisation
Thanks for that link Chris
What a nest of Rothschild vipers in Thatcher’s regime. That was new to me, but not at all surprising