{"id":4227,"date":"2025-06-18T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/?post_type=xen_episodes&p=4227"},"modified":"2025-06-17T13:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:14:30","slug":"episode-252-steelmaking-in-the-mid-transition","status":"publish","type":"xen_episodes","link":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-252-steelmaking-in-the-mid-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"[Episode #252] \u2013 Steelmaking in the Mid-Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 12, the British government took control of British Steel under an emergency authorization in order to prevent its last blast furnace from shutting down. Blast furnaces produce primary steel from iron ore and account for about 93% of global primary iron production, but they also generate large amounts of CO2. Alternative, low-carbon technologies are expected to replace them as the energy transition proceeds.<\/p>\n

But retiring a technology\u2014especially one as critical to national security as steelmaking\u2014and replacing it with another is a process that should be conducted carefully and deliberately\u2026not on an emergency basis.<\/p>\n

This kind of \"mid-transition\" problem is one our guests have studied in depth. Emily Grubert is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame who previously joined us in Episode #185<\/a> to discuss the mid-transition. Joshua Lappen is a historian and engineer working as a postdoctoral research associate with Emily at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

In this conversation, we review the facts of the British Steel takeover, including why letting the blast furnace shut down was deemed to be an unacceptable risk. We examine the options for decarbonizing steelmaking that will eventually displace blast furnace technology. And we consider what impact Trump's global tariff war may have on the transitioning of steelmaking, and what some of the geopolitical implications of that may be for the steel industry in Britain, and the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How can a country replace a critical technology like blast furnaces with a low-carbon alternative while preserving national security and jobs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[1276,1279,1278,1008,34,1240,915,377,1277],"class_list":["post-4227","xen_episodes","type-xen_episodes","status-publish","hentry","category-energy-transition-show-podcasts","tag-blast-furnace","tag-british-steel","tag-direct-iron-reduction","tag-green-steel","tag-hydrogen","tag-industrial-decarbonization","tag-steel","tag-uk","tag-zero-carbon-industry","xen_guests-emily-grubert","xen_guests-josh-lappen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n[Episode #252] \u2013 Steelmaking in the Mid-Transition | The Energy Transition Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How can a country replace a critical technology like blast furnaces with a low-carbon 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