Energy is an important cost factor in the U.S iron and steel industry. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. iron and steel industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component, process, facility, and organizational levels. A discussion of the structure, production trends, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions of the iron and steel industry is provided along with a description of the major process technologies used within the industry. Next, a wide variety of energy efficiency measures are described. Many measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in the steel and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. iron and steel industry reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures?and on their applicability to different production practices?is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.

Past energy-consumption trends and future energy-conservation opportunities are investigated for the nation's iron and steel industry. It is estimated that, in 1980, the industry directly consumed approximately 2.46 x 1015 Btu of energy (roughly 3% of total US energy consumption) to produce 111 million tons of raw steel and to ship 84 million tons of steel products. Direct plus indirect consumption is estimated to be about 3.1 x 1015 Btu. Of the set of conservation technologies identified, most are judged to be ready for commercialization if and when the industry's capital formation and profitability problems are solved and the gradual predicted increase in energy prices reduces the payback periods to acceptable levels.

The U.S. steel industry has taken enormous strides over the past decades to reduce its energy consumption; since the end of World War II, the industry has reduced its energy intensity (energy use per shipped ton) by 60 percent. Between 1990 and 1998 alone, intensity has dropped from 20 to 18 million Btu (MBtu) per ton. This figure is projected to decrease to 15 MBtu/ton by 2010 with an asymptotic trend towards 14 MBtu/ton. Domestic shipments are projected to flatten out over the next decade to around 105 million tons which means that total energy consumption will also decrease. Historically, the steel industry has accounted for about 6 percent of U.S. energy consumption. Today, that figure is less than 2 percent and will decrease further to 1.5 percent by 2010. The primary causes for the decrease in energy consumption since WWII are: The use of pellets in the blast furnace and the application of new technology in the ironmaking process to further reduce fuel rates per net ton of hot metal (NTHM); The total replacement of the open hearth process by basic oxygen and electric furnaces; The almost total replacement of ingot casting by continuous casting (which improved yield dramatically and thus reduced the tons of raw steel required per ton of shipments); and The growth of the electric furnace sector of the industry at the expense of hot metal-based processes (which has also stimulated scrap recycling so that about 55 percent of ''new'' steel is now melted from scrap steel). This report focuses on the concept of good practices (i.e., those that are sustainable and can use today's technology). If all the industry could operate on this basis, the additional savings per ton could total 2 MBtu, As further restructuring occurs and the swing from hot metal-based to electric furnace-based production continues, the average consumption will approach the good practice energy per ton. Further savings will accrue through new technology, particularly in the areas of reduced blast furnace fuel rates and reheating efficiency, both of which relate to large tonnages of material.