The World Steel Association recently released its 2008 sustainability report (PDF). The report is based on a survey of 500 stakeholders located in Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Asia and Africa.
The steel industry among other initiatives, says it is working to develop a global steel sector approach by 2010 to reduce the CO2 intensity of steel.
The report cited some case studies to showcase some of the initiatives steel companies are taking.
In South Korea, POSCO recycles approximately 98 percent of the water it uses in steel-making, for reuse at the facility. This minimizes their use of fresh water from nearby dams to about 310,000 tones per day. All the water it uses is treated at a waste water treatment plant.
At the Gerdau Ameristeel plant in Canada, 45 percent of the energy required to operate the furnace is produced by methane gas. This cuts more than 6,000 tones of CO2 emissions per year.
In September, Save Energy Now Assessments, conducted by the Department of Energy Industrial Technologies Program, identified more than $105 million in potential energy cost savings for 23 U.S. steel manufacturing facilities that participated in the program.
