"Green hydrogen will likely play a key role in decarbonizing steel. Experts discussed the complex transition in Pennsylvania, the birthplace of U.S. steelmaking."
"PHILADELPHIA — Steel is an essential building block of modern society, used in bridges and buildings, transmission towers, wind turbines, electric cars and so much more.
It’s also made using extremely dirty processes. Traditional steelmaking contributes up to 9 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions every year — and produces a toxic soup of pollutants, which harm nearby communities the most.
Yet the United States is suddenly on the very cusp of a “green steel” transition. New solutions are emerging that could offer a cleaner path to producing the high-strength metal. Most likely, they’ll involve using hydrogen to process iron ore for steelmaking.
On April 5, at this year’s Society of Environmental Journalists conference, I led a panel about the challenges and opportunities of replacing coal-based steel mills with less-polluting methods. The timing couldn’t have been better. The previous week, the Biden administration pledged up to $1 billion to help build two hydrogen-based ironmaking facilities, which will be the first in the United States — and among only a few worldwide."
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