This paper analyses some possible means by which renewable power could be integrated into the steel manufacturing process, with techniques such as blast furnace gas recirculation (BF-GR), furnaces that utilize carbon capture, a higher share of electrical arc furnaces (EAFs) and the use of direct reduced iron with hydrogen as reduction agent (H-DR). It is demonstrated that these processes could lead to less dependence on—and ultimately complete independence from—coal. This opens the possibility of providing the steel industry with power and heat by coupling to renewable power generation (sector coupling). In this context, it is shown using the example of Germany that with these technologies, reductions of 47–95% of CO2 emissions against 1990 levels and 27–95% of primary energy demand against 2008 can be achieved through the integration of 12–274 TWh of renewable electrical power into the steel industry. Thereby, a substantial contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and fuel demand could be made (although it would fall short of realizing the German government’s target of a 50% reduction in power consumption by 2050).

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/4/451/pdf

Power-to-Steel: Reducing CO2 through the Integration of Renewable Energy and Hydrogen into the German Steel Industry

In 2015, industrial sector installations included in the European emission trading system (EU ETS) emitted 574 Mt CO2-equivalent Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Among them are production of clinker, lime and ammonia, blast furnace operations, refineries and others. The emission intensity of these installations is closely tied to the fuel type used. Global warming scenarios of 1.5 °C recently presented by the IPCC require fast emission reduction in all sectors until 2030, followed by deep reductions, reaching carbon neutrality around 2050. In this paper, the technical potential to use biomass and electricity with existing or available technologies in important industrial processes is reviewed. The investigated industries account for 95% of the total verified emissions in the EU ETS industrial sector 2015 and 64% of total industrial emissions of the EU28. We find that 34% (184 Mt) of these emissions could be avoided from a technical perspective until 2030 with fuel switch measures towards biomass and electricity. This reduction is in line with 1.5 °C global warming scenarios until 2030, but further effort is required beyond that. We also find that available options lack economic competitiveness under present conditions, e.g. due to high electricity prices. We conclude that, although considerable fast emission saving potential by switching to biomass and electricity are possible, deep decarbonisation in line with climate targets requires innovative production processes only available in the long term.

A review of the emission reduction potential of fuel switch towards biomass and electricity in European basic materials industry until 2030

Energy balances are usually aggregated at the level of subsector and energy carrier. While heating and cooling accounts for half the energy demand of the European Union’s 28 member states plus Norway, Switzerland and Iceland (EU28 + 3), currently, there are no end-use balances that match Eurostat’s energy balance for the industrial sector. Here, we present a methodology to disaggregate Eurostat’s energy balance for the industrial sector. Doing so, we add the dimensions of temperature level and end-use. The results show that, although a similar distribution of energy use by temperature level can be observed, there are considerable differences among individual countries. These differences are mainly caused by the countries’ heterogeneous economic structures, highlighting that approaches on a process level yield more differentiated results than those based on subsectors only. We calculate the final heating demand of the EU28 + 3 for industrial processes in 2012 to be 1035, 706 and 228 TWh at the respective temperature levels > 500 °C (e.g. iron and steel production), 100–500 °C (e.g. steam use in chemical industry) and < 100 °C (e.g. food industry); 346 TWh is needed for space heating. In addition, 86 TWh is calculated for the industrial process cooling demand for electricity in EU28 + 3. We estimate additional 12 TWh of electricity demand for industrial space cooling. The results presented here have contributed to policy discussions in the EU (European Commision 2016), and we expect the additional level of detail to be relevant when designing policies regarding fuel dependency, fuel switching and specific technologies (e.g. low-temperature heat applications).

A bottom-up estimation of the heating and cooling demand in European industry

Energy efficiency in leading emerging and developed countries

Hydrogen can contribute substantially to the reduction of carbon emissions in industry and transportation. However, the production of hydrogen through electrolysis creates interdependencies between hydrogen supply chains and electricity systems. Therefore, as governments worldwide are planning considerable financial subsidies and new regulation to promote hydrogen infrastructure investments in the next years, energy policy research is needed to guide such policies with holistic analyses. In this study, we link a electrolytic hydrogen supply chain model with an electricity system dispatch model. We use this methodology for a cross-sectoral case study of Germany in 2030. We find that hydrogen infrastructure investments and their effects on the electricity system are strongly influenced by electricity prices. Given current uniform zonal prices, hydrogen production increases congestion costs in the electricity grid by 11%. In contrast, passing spatially resolved electricity price signals leads to electrolyzers being placed at low-cost grid nodes and further away from consumption centers. This causes lower end-use costs for hydrogen. Moreover, congestion management costs decrease substantially, by 24% compared to the benchmark case without hydrogen. These savings could be transferred into according subsidies for hydrogen production. Thus, our study demonstrates the benefits of differentiating subsidies for hydrogen production based on spatial criteria.

Integrating Hydrogen in Single-Price Electricity Systems: The Effects of Spatial Economic Signals

Welchen Beitrag kann die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz in der Industrie zur Energiewende in Deutschland leisten? Um diese Frage zu beantworten wird fur die energieintensiven Branchen, welche insgesamt etwa 70% des Energiebedarfs der Industrie ausmachen, eine modellgestutzte Analyse der vorhandenen Energieeffizienzpotenziale durchgefuhrt. Aufbauend hierauf werden je Branche Instrumente zur Umsetzung der berechneten Potenziale und zur Uberwindung der bestehenden Hemmnisse vorgeschlagen.

Energieverbrauch und CO2-Emissionen industrieller Prozesstechnologien : Einsparpotenziale, Hemmnisse und Instrumente

Die Verminderung der energiebedingten CO2-Emissionen in der mittelstandischen Wirtschaft durch effizientere Nutzung von Energie ist eine der rentabelsten Optionen. Dennoch werden diese Chancen wegen vielfaltiger Hemmnisse und Marktversagen kaum realisiert. Hierbei spielen hohe Transaktionskosten und Entscheidungsroutinen bei Investitionen und beim Einkauf der Betriebe eine erhebliche Rolle. Ein in der Schweiz entwickeltes Netzwerkkonzept mit Eingangsberatung jedes teilnehmenden Betriebes, Zielsetzungen fur das gesamte Netzwerk, regelmasigen moderierten Treffen der Energiebeauftragten zum Erfahrungsaustausch sowie einem jahrlichem Monitoring uberwindet viele dieser Hemmnisse und fuhrt zu einer Verdopplung des energietechnischen Fortschrittes relativ zum Effizienzfortschritt der Industrie insgesamt. Dieses Netzwerkkonzept kann weitestgehend von der Wirtschaft selbst durchgefuhrt werden. Die jahrliche durchschnittliche Energiekostenersparnis ist rd. 100.000 € je Betrieb und Jahr und die CO2-Emissionsminderung rd. 500 t CO2. Bei einem Gesamtpotential von rd. 700 Netzwerken waren fur 2020 Emissionsminderungen bis zu 10 Mio. t CO2 moglich. Ein Netzwerk-Managementsystem erlaubt einen Mindeststandard zum Aufbau und Betrieb derartiger Netzwerke fur Beratende Ingenieure und Moderatoren.

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Energieeffizienznetzwerke – beschleunigte Emissionsminderungen in der mittelständischen Wirtschaft

Energy efficiency networks have received increasing attention over the last few years, not only from national governments (Austria, China, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland) but also from utilities, consulting engineers, chambers of commerce, and city councils. This paper examines the factors that contribute to the success of such networks by drawing on unique data from two pilot projects involving 34 energy efficiency networks in Germany. The objective is to explain why the companies participating in such networks are much faster at reducing their energy costs than the average in similar businesses. Possible explanations for the success of energy efficiency networks include the following: (1) energy audits make profitable potentials visible; (2) the joint network targets for efficiency and emissions increase the motivation of energy managers, decision-makers, and other staff members; (3) the meetings and site visits of the network participants act like an intensive training course to increase the knowledge of efficient solutions, change decision routines, and lead to trust among the participants; and (4) network participation reduces transaction costs. In our data, we find support for the first, the third, and the fourth explanations, i.e. the audits make profitable potentials visible and networks function as a training course to increase knowledge. And, from the point of view of participants, transaction costs are reduced. The impact of network goals, on the other hand, appears to have both up- and downsides. We conclude that there is the need for further research in order to capture these mechanisms in more detail.

Energy efficiency networks—what are the processes that make them work?

Global denken, lokal handeln: Was Energieeffizienz-Netzwerke leisten können

Hohe Rentabilitaten von Energieeffizienz-Investitionen mit durchschnittlich 30 % interner Verzinsung werden immer wieder aus dem Kreis beratender Ingenieure und Technologieherstellern berichtet. Aber zugleich beklagen sie ihre mangelnde Umsetzung, selbst durch Spezialisten wie Contractoren. Die Mikro-Okonomen erklaren den Umsetzungsmangel u. a. durch hohe Transaktionskosten. Allerdings sind diese empirisch kaum erhoben, so dass ihre Bedeutung im Rahmen der gehemmten Energieeffizienz-Potentiale nicht konkret eingeschatzt werden kann. Der Artikel berichtet uber 40 differenziert analysierte Transaktionskosten von verschiedenen Energieeffizienz-Investitionen, es ergibt sich eine klare Degression in Abhangigkeit von der Hohe der Investition und ersten Hinweisen zu weiteren Einflussfaktoren (z. B. der Komplexitat der Investition und der Grose und Energieintensitat des Unternehmens). Da die erhobenen Zahlen von teilnehmenden Unternehmen in Energieeffizienz-Netzwerken stammen und auch der Einfluss der Netzwerke und des Erfahrungsaustausches abgefragt wurde, gibt es erste Hinweise, welche der Transaktionskosten durch dieses Instrument am meisten reduziert werden konnten.

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Michael Mai

Papers

Energieverbrauch und CO2-Emissionen industrieller Prozesstechnologien : Einsparpotenziale, Hemmnisse und Instrumente

Energieeffizienznetzwerke – beschleunigte Emissionsminderungen in der mittelständischen Wirtschaft

Energy efficiency networks—what are the processes that make them work?

Global denken, lokal handeln: Was Energieeffizienz-Netzwerke leisten können

Transaktionskosten bei Energieeffizienz-Investitionen in Unternehmen