Industry
Harnessing Green Demand to Drive Sustainable Chemicals Production
Chemicals play a critical, though often overlooked, role in modern society. They provide many of the key building blocks for the construction industry, support agriculture by increasing crop yields, and offer novel materials for a range of products from automobiles to new energy technologies. In fact, chemicals are everywhere, present…
Maximizing the Efficiency of Clean Steel Production and Achieving Cost Competitiveness
Clean steel production will require an enormous amount of clean energy. Producing green hydrogen, operating high-temperature gas heaters, and powering electric arc furnaces will dramatically increase electricity demand at primary steel mills in the United States, and demand could reach gigawatt scale for individual commercial facilities. Therefore, every unit…
Beyond Fossil Feedstocks: Methanol-to-Olefins and the Future of Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing
Plastics underpin modern life. They are used in packaging, textiles, and medical devices, and are critical to clean energy technologies such as solar panels and EV components. Nearly all plastics today are derived from fossil fuels and originate from a small set of primary chemicals known as olefins. Olefins are…
Toward a New Carbon Economy
The energy transition is often described as a journey toward a zero-carbon future. This framing has been useful in highlighting the urgency of climate action and the need for emissions reductions, but when taken too literally, it creates the impression that progress means eliminating carbon from our economy. In fact,…
Unlocking Low-Carbon Cement and Concrete Through Book and Claim
Cement and concrete are the most widely used human-made materials on Earth, with their consumption closely tied to economic growth and urbanization, and their climate impact responsible for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The sector is often described as hard to abate due to high thermal energy requirements…
