New trends in industrial energy efficiency in the Mexico iron and steel industry

Technical Report · Sat Jul 31 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:809915

Ozawa, Leticia ^[1]; Martin, Nathan; Worrell, Ernst; Price, Lynn; Sheinbaum, Claudia

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1. LBNL Library

Energy use in the Mexican industrial sector experienced important changes in the last decade related to changes in the Mexican economy. In previous studies, we have shown that a real change in energy-intensity was the most important factor in the overall decline of energy use and CO2 emissions in the Mexican industrial sector. Real changes in energy intensity were explained by different factors, depending on the industrial sub-sector. In this paper, we analyze the factors that influenced energy use in the Mexican iron and steel industry, the largest energy consuming and energy-intensive industry in the country. To understand the trends in this industry we used a decomposition analysis based on physical indicators to decompose the changes in intra-sectoral structural changes and efficiency improvements. Also, we use a structure-efficiency analysis for international comparisons, considering industrial structure and the best available technology. In 1995, Mexican iron and steel industry consumed 17.7 percent of the industrial energy consumption. Between 1970 and 1995, the steel production has increased with an annual growth rate of 4.7 percent, while the specific energy consumption (SEC) has decreased from 28.4 to 23.8 GJ/tonne of crude steel. This reduction was due to energy efficiency improvements (disappearance of the open hearth production, increase of the share of the continuous casting) and to structural changes as well (increase of the share of scrap input in the steelmaking).

• Research Organization: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 809915
• Report Number(s): LBNL--43744
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CASTING
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
INDUSTRY
IRON
METAL INDUSTRY
MEXICO
MEXICO IRON AND STEEL DECOMPOSITION
PRODUCTION
SCRAP
STEELS