WASHINGTON, D.C. — Community, health, and environmental groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s exemptions that allow coke ovens to keep spewing harmful pollutants. Coke ovens, which superheat coal to produce coke used in the steelmaking process, are a major source of hazardous air pollution that include toxic chemicals and … [continued]
Whitehouse, DelBene’s bill puts fee on products that exceed U.S. average carbon intensity WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced the Clean Competition Act of 2025. The bill would boost clean, American manufacturing and cut industrial pollution in the United States and abroad. The … [continued]
The US startup Boston Metal is bringing its new one-pot green steel process to the global industrial decarbonization movement, along with a process for recovering valuable metals from mining waste.
ChatGPT generated panoramic construction site comparison showing a rebar-filled concrete high-rise on the left and a modular timber mid-rise under rapid assembly on the right
Cross laminated timber is often presented as a housing solution, a way to build faster and more affordably while reducing the carbon locked into buildings. That is true, but it is also part of a larger story about the heavy materials industries. Every time a cubic meter of cross laminated … [continued]
ChatGPT-generated image of a modern biomass-to-biomethane facility, where organic waste is processed into renewable gas for negative-emission steelmaking pathways
Recent adjustments to my projections for global steel demand through 2100, reflecting a significant slowdown in Chinese infrastructure and cement consumption, have sharpened my economic focus on competing new steelmaking technologies. With lower growth trajectories for steel firmly established, every ton produced in the coming decades will increasingly face stringent … [continued]
Recycled steel targets will help clean up car production, strengthen Europe’s domestic industry and reduce our dependence on imports. The automotive industry is the EU’s second biggest steel consumer — yet only a tiny amount, just 6%, of steel used in cars comes from scrap. That’s compared to a European … [continued]
Volvo Cars continues to be a green, sustainability leader. Safety and environmental credentials have long been strong suits of the Volvo brand, and that continues today. News out of Sweden today is that Volvo Cars is getting “high-quality, recycled and near zero-emissions steel” starting this year, 2025, from SSAB. Furthermore, … [continued]
ChatGPT generated this high-resolution image of stacked steel beams and rebar at a construction site, illustrating steel’s foundational role in traditional building
My recent online conversation with Scott Norris, a structural steel expert and Director of Engineering Solutions at Steelcon, prompted me to reexamine some assumptions I had previously made about global steel demand projections. Scott, whose practical experience within the steel industry grants him clear insights into current operational constraints and … [continued]
ChatGPT generated panoramic aerial image of a major Chinese city skyline filled with rooftop solar installations
China’s coal-fired electricity generation took an unexpectedly sharp turn downward in the first quarter of 2025, signaling a potentially profound shift in the world’s largest coal-consuming economy. This wasn’t merely a seasonal dip or economic distress signal; rather, it represented a clear and structural turning point. Coal generation fell by … [continued]
The new Mojave Micro Mill near Bakersfield, the first new steel mill built in California in 50 years, will be powered by renewable energy.
