One thing I've been sort of curious about with non-carbothermal iron ore reduction is whether it could bring back wrought iron. Wrought iron disappeared around the 1960s due to high production costs — the crude product contains carbon, which must be removed by working — but iron produced with hydrogen or electricity will not have a chance to absorb carbon like this. There's more to it than that — you have to achieve a particular grain structure and fibrous silicate inclusions. But the corrosion resistance is nice — some wrought iron fencing in the highly corrosive atmosphere of New Orleans persists to this day. One paper reported that the corrosion resistance is better than mild steel but lower than weathering steel — but without creating the stains we associate with weathering steel:<p><a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/237170109.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/237170109.pdf</a>
The first solar-powered steel mill was recently built in Pueblo, Colorado: <a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-world-s-first-solar-powered-steel-mill-is-here-1847908119" rel="nofollow">https://gizmodo.com/the-world-s-first-solar-powered-steel-mi...</a>
Is everyone decarbonising? India, China? I get the feeling they're laughing all that way to the bank.<p>(All in favour of it, just everyone has to play along)
Safire plasma, which forms self-containing magnetic fields and is a fusion reaction that can stay lit pretty much indefinitely with no artificial magnet infrastructure (like the crappy Tokomak) renders the CO2 narrative moot.
Only in the absurd world of carbon credits is this required - something that is nearly impossible to do any other way - that contributes practically nothing to global CO2 vs the incredible benefit to society it proffers - has to stop. Why?
The sooner that people realize that the climate is going to change regardless of what humanity does the better off we will be. When the reality sinks in maybe we can put our efforts into adapting. Might have a chance that way.