3 ms·

Metallurgical coal is going to be the very hardest thing to get away from. Improvements in the coking process (carbon capture) are plausible, but the chemistry

Metallurgical coal is going to be the very hardest thing to get away from. Improvements in the coking process (carbon capture) are plausible, but the chemistry basically demands burning a butt-load of carbon. Thermal coal is replaceable by conservation, nuclear power, and to some extent wind/solar plus storage, and if I were in charge I'd be pushing to ban new thermal coal development. But metallurgical coal is going to be almost physically (or chemically) impossible to replace.

dredmorbius 12y ago
It's a a big use, 14% of global coal use from memory based on a recent query. BP's annual energy review 2014 gives total global coal use as 3,881.4 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent), which works out to 5.54 billion tonnes of coal. 14% of that is still a large number, 776 million tons. I happened to look up total forestry production in the US recently, let's see if I can't find that .... Here: https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/NVg1UQ5WNAh https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/NVg1UQ5W... Total US lumber production is equivalent to 928 Mboe. So, yeah, applying 84% of US timber production to coking activities would supply the world with steel. (Sources: http://www.loggers.com/timber_facts.htm http://www.loggers.com/timber_facts.htm http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp615/fplrp615.pdf http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp615/fplrp615.pd... http://generatorjoe.net/html/energy.asp http://generatorjoe.net/html/energy.asp ) US steel production is just under 100 megatonnes (2007). Global production is 1,600 megatonnes. So US production is 6.25% of global. The US could provide for its own steel manufacture somewhat more feasibly. http://www.worldsteel.org/media-centre/press-releases/2014/World-crude-steel-output-increases-by-3-5--in-2013.html http://www.worldsteel.org/media-centre/press-releases/2014/W... http://www.indexmundi.com/minerals/?country=us&product=raw-steel http://www.indexmundi.com/minerals/?country=us&product=raw-s... Incidentally, energy use in producing construction materials is among the reasons I see a possible future not for biofuels but for biomaterials -- utilizing plants or organic processes to directly provide structural materials (or replacements for them) that we use. Carbon separation from seawater seems another possible approach, though I haven't specced out that for coking purposes: https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy_electricitytofuel_synthesis_papers_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy...

dredmorbius 12y ago

It's a a big use, 14% of global coal use from memory based on a recent query. BP's annual energy review 2014 gives total global coal use as 3,881.4 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent), which works out to 5.54 billion tonnes of coal. 14% of that is still a large number, 776 million tons. I happened to look up total forestry production in the US recently, let's see if I can't find that .... Here: https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/NVg1UQ5WNAh https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/NVg1UQ5W... Total US lumber production is equivalent to 928 Mboe. So, yeah, applying 84% of US timber production to coking activities would supply the world with steel. (Sources: http://www.loggers.com/timber_facts.htm http://www.loggers.com/timber_facts.htm http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp615/fplrp615.pdf http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp615/fplrp615.pd... http://generatorjoe.net/html/energy.asp http://generatorjoe.net/html/energy.asp ) US steel production is just under 100 megatonnes (2007). Global production is 1,600 megatonnes. So US production is 6.25% of global. The US could provide for its own steel manufacture somewhat more feasibly. http://www.worldsteel.org/media-centre/press-releases/2014/World-crude-steel-output-increases-by-3-5--in-2013.html http://www.worldsteel.org/media-centre/press-releases/2014/W... http://www.indexmundi.com/minerals/?country=us&product=raw-steel http://www.indexmundi.com/minerals/?country=us&product=raw-s... Incidentally, energy use in producing construction materials is among the reasons I see a possible future not for biofuels but for biomaterials -- utilizing plants or organic processes to directly provide structural materials (or replacements for them) that we use. Carbon separation from seawater seems another possible approach, though I haven't specced out that for coking purposes: https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy_electricitytofuel_synthesis_papers_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/22k71x/us_navy...