The Keep Cool Podcast E70: Making greener steel at significant scale with Tim Hill of Nucor
Description: Nick is joined by Tim Hill, the General Manager of Sustainability Solutions for Nucor Corporation. Nucor is the largest steel producer and recycler in North America. Plus, Nucor produces steel via a larger circular and electricity-powered process; their steel uses recycled scrap and is made in electric arc furnaces (EAF) instead of blast and basic oxygen furnaces (BF/BOF). This makes Nucor not just one of the largest steel producers in the world, but a leader in steel decarbonization. Whereas green steel is often something that’s referred to as a future possibility, much greener steel is already available domestically today. In addition to these points, Nick and Tim discuss the following…:
- Misconceptions about ‘hard to abate’: A necessary reframe for the fact that steel is often seen as a ‘hard to abate’ sector, given that Nucor already offers steel that In comparison, emits only 0.77* tons of CO2 per ton of steel produced for Scopes 1-3. That’s less than one third the GHG intensity of BF-BOF steelmaking (Worldsteel).
- Additional decarbonization: There are many areas where Nucor can achieve additional emissions reductions along their supply chain, including in sourcing renewable and cleaner power. This is an area where Nucor is leading the market with numerous technological partnerships.
- Global leadership: How can Nucor’s expertise in greener steel manufacturing spread to the rest of the world? There’s a lot of work to do to decarbonize steel; Nucor finds itself in a powerful leadership position, not just to export greener steel to markets globally, but to shape and influence how the entire world approaches decarbonization.
… and much more!
Timestamps:
00:02:17 - Guest Introduction: Tim's Career at Nucor
00:04:47 - Nucor's Enterprise Strategy and Decarbonization
00:05:08 - Common Misconceptions About U.S. Steel Industry
00:07:08 - Nucor's Leadership in Steel Recycling
00:11:19 - U.S. vs. Global Steel Production Methods
00:14:17 - Nucor's CO2 Emissions Compared to Global Averages
00:17:06 - History of Nucor's Decarbonization Journey
00:21:46 - Market Evolution and Customer Demand
00:25:56 - Catalytic Demand for Clean Energy
00:28:12 - Decarbonizing Remaining Emissions
00:31:05 - Investments in Fusion and Hydrogen Technologies
00:34:42 - Policy and Regulatory Frameworks
00:38:39 - Opportunities for Nucor in Global Markets
00:42:26 - Broader Climate and Energy Topics
Learn more about Nucor and their sustainability efforts here: https://nucor.com/sustainability
If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool
Thank you so much.
Plus, stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool here: https://keepcool.co/ and follow Nick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasvanosdol/