Few of us think about heat as an essential ingredient in the products we use every day. And, yet industrial process heat constitutes two-thirds of all energy used by industry. It is used to melt and form metals, to make ceramics, to refine crude oil, to make industrial chemicals, to dry crops, to process food, to sterilize medical instruments, and to heat the facilities within which industries operate. Practically, everything we use on a regular basis has at some point required heat to process. And it turns out that the challenges society faces obtaining process heat mirror in many respects the energy challenges for society as a whole.
Without process heat, much of the world would grind to a halt. That's why the ready availability of fuel for creating that heat is so important. Currently, fossil fuels dominate as energy sources for process heat, chiefly natural gas and coal. There are two reasons to be concerned about their supply.
First, evolving regulations regarding fossil fuel emissions in order to address both pollution and climate change may make fossil fuels more expensive and difficult to use (for example, due to the need for advanced scrubbers and carbon capture). Second, the underground supplies of fossil fuels may not be as plentiful as the public has been led to believe. (Regarding oil and natural gas, see this piece. For coal, see this piece.)
Process heat is so central to some industrial operations that if it becomes too expensive, it may make operations unprofitable. We've already seen several energy-intensive industries in Europe shut down operations due to high prices for natural gas resulting from the loss of Russian natural gas imports due to sanctions and sabotage. So, not only must fossil fuels be available to those requiring process heat, those fuels must also be cheap enough to maintain the profitability of the operations that rely on them.
So what are the possible alternatives? This piece (linked previously above) outlines some of them.
There is, of course, the larger question of how quickly human societies can transition away from fossil fuels for ALL applications in the world economy given the urgency due both to depletion and climate change. And, that urgency is becoming greater with every passing day.
By Kurt Cobb via Resourceinsights.com
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Kurt Cobb is a freelance writer and communications consultant who writes frequently about energy and environment. His work has also appeared in The Christian Science… More
Comments
Geothermal energy is an excellent energy source for generating electricity. In fact, electricity used in Iceland is totally generated from geothermal energy. However, the world doesn’t have enough geothermal energy to support global industry.
And despite the trillions of dollars spent in the last thirty years to generate solar and wind electricity, renewables only account for an estimated 12% with hydropower accounting for 16%, nuclear for 10% and fossil fuels 61%.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert