Heavy industry, and the emissions that do not come from the fuel
Most of what is written about industrial decarbonisation stops at the fuel. That is the easy half. A cement kiln releases carbon dioxide from the rock it is heating, a blast furnace uses carbon as a reagent rather than a fuel, an emissions figure is a boundary choice before it is a measurement, and a furnace lined this year will still be there when the target year arrives. These essays work through those mechanisms — with an estimator that runs on the emission factors you supply, not on any we invented.
All essays
- Thirty-Year Assets, Ten-Year Decisions
Heavy plant is replaced at end of life, not on a policy calendar. That single fact governs which abatement is available when, why retrofit and replacement rarely compete fairly, and why designing for a later conversion often beats doing it now.
- What Gets Counted, and by Whom
Scopes describe reporting responsibility, not physical emissions. Once you see that, most of the ways a corporate carbon number moves without anything burning less become obvious — and checkable.
- Chemistry You Cannot Burn Your Way Out Of
In cement the carbon dioxide comes out of the rock. In steel the carbon is a reagent, not a fuel. Neither responds to a fuel switch, which is why these sectors behave differently from everything else.
- Where Electrification Runs Out of Temperature
Electricity can reach any temperature you like. What it cannot always do is deliver heat the way a flame does — into the right volume, at the right rate, in the right atmosphere. That is the real ceiling.