Day: September 14, 2023

The basic process for making steel hasn’t changed a whole lot in the past few hundred years. Into the top of a big, lava lamp-shaped blast furnace goes iron ore and coking coal, and out comes waste slag, pig iron (later refined into steel), and a whole lot of CO2. For every ton of steel those furnaces end up making, close to two tons of CO2 gets emitted into the atmosphere. All told, the sector is responsible for a massive 7-9% of global carbon emissions.

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And it’s not just that massive carbon footprint that keeps environmentalists up at night. Green energy and electric vehicles are at least making headway in displacing fossil fuels, but there isn’t a no-brainer green alternative able to decarbonize steel production on a large scale. All the while, yet more heavily polluting new blast furnaces are being commissioned every year.

The most important part of this question is public policy; very little is likely to happen without governments stepping in and telling steel producers that they need to stop emitting. In terms of technology the companies can turn to, there are a few options on the table, though none of them have yet been carried out on a large scale. Carbon capture systems can be retrofitted onto existing steel plants—though the cost is high, and in many cases involves building extensive pipelines to transport carbon dioxide to suitable places for it to be stored underground. Companies could also abandon their traditional blast furnaces and start using an alternate steelmaking process that uses green hydrogen to convert ore into usable iron. That technique is already being trialed by companies in Europe, though the process is mostly limited to the highest grade steel ores, which only account for a small segment of the global supply.

Then there’s really new processes like what U.S.-based Boston Metal is trying to scale up. The company is working to develop a new way to make zero-emission steel using renewable electrical power and some interesting chemistry. The process, known as molten oxide electrolysis, involves passing gargantuan amounts of electricity through iron ore, melting it into metallic soup. The electrical current also splits the iron ore into elemental iron and oxygen, and the iron sinks to the bottom of the furnace, leaving all the impurities—silica, calcium, magnesium—on top. 

The company has been in operation for about 10 years—that’s how long it takes to bring something like this to market. And it just passed a major milestone, raising $262 million in venture capital funding last week. That big check, says the company’s CEO Tadeu Carneiro, could be the last bit of venture capital it needs before it is able to start mass producing steel in the next few years.

Carneiro spoke with TIME about what that money means for a new player in an old industry, how mine waste in Brazil is helping to fund the company (the company’s process also works for extracting valuable metals like niobium and tantalum from low-grade ore), and the world’s prospects of decarbonizing the steel industry. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

TIME: Steelmaking is an incredibly old industry, and it really hasn’t changed much in the past century. Why is the technology of molten oxide electrolysis only being developed now?

Carneiro: It’s two things. One is we didn’t have the environmental awareness that we have today. So you know, the problem of eliminating CO2 emissions is something that became clearer more recently. The other thing is the availability of electricity from renewable sources. Molten oxide electrolysis is something that has been talked about since Michael Faraday’s day [in the 1800s]. It’s not something new. But to think that you would be able to produce two billion tons of steel per year using electricity 15 years ago, people would say that you had completely lost your mind. The decision to generate [huge amounts of renewable] electricity the way it is being generated today, and will be in the future, was not there.

I can’t even imagine how much electricity it must take to melt iron ore in the way you’re describing. I imagine the economics of your company depend on access to a lot of cheap power. How are you going to get it?

So here’s the thing. If you don’t believe that electricity will be plentiful, reliable, available, green, and cheap, forget about it. But then you have to forget about lots of other things. We, as a society, decided that we will have green electricity available in the future. So today there are some geographic areas where you can deploy the system today because you have abundant green and cheap electricity. Quebec is one place. Scandinavia is another place. So we have to believe that the electricity will be available. You [already] have a bunch of investments in renewable electricity generation, and also in electrical storage to stabilize the use of that electricity. So you have to believe that this will happen. We have to have that happen in order to get global warming under control. So that’s one point. The other point is if you want to get to green steel, then the blast furnaces have to go. If the steel-making companies are serious about being carbon neutral by 2050, they will have to phase out blast furnaces by the mid ‘30s. There is no other way. 

Have you gotten more interest from steelmakers lately? (Boston Metal’s business model is to license their technology to steelmakers).

It’s totally changed. Six years ago, it was too early for them. A couple of years [ago], it totally changed. The whole steel industry is really engaged and trying to solve the problem. All the big ones have already made pledges to be carbon neutral by 2050. They all understand that you can’t solve the problem overnight, there will be a transition. And in this transition, you will try several different things to see what is going to be the most efficient. 

You’ve gotten a lot of funding recently. What are you planning to do with it?

The use of these funds is mainly broken into two main fronts. One is funding and scaling up what is already a commercial application of the technology in Brazil to get value from mineral wastes, and that should consume around $100 million from the funding. The reason why that is very important is because we will start generating revenues to help fund the balance of the program, which is scaling up the technology for green steel. 

Do you have any plans for a larger green steel plant?

The next milestone is a semi-industrial cell. It’s not called “industrial” just because it doesn’t produce enough to make sense for what the steel industry uses. It will run here in Woburn, Mass., from the second part of next year onward. We will have our first industrial demonstration unit sometime in 2025. And we want to become commercial with the technology in 2026. I would say the first million-ton or 2 million tons-size plants would be running in something like 2028. But now the most important thing is getting this semi-industrial cell running in Woburn, Mass., next year. Once we do that, you are in business, because the pressure to solve [this] is so big that it’s only a question of the time to build a big plant.

Editor’s note: With the 2023 High Holidays upon us, we’re refreshing and republishing older stories about the holiday season for readers to enjoy with updated information. This story was originally published on September 20, 2017.

Rosh Hashanah is behind us, but your e-mails about it are not. Two that arrived this week address the same issue. One, from Sue Mackson of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., declares:

“I get crazed, but probably shouldn’t, when I hear (and it happens quite a lot) folks wish each other ‘l’shana tova.’ I think the phrase is properly shana tova, without the l’. Or am I overdoing my annoyance?”

And from Allan Nadler, professor of religion and director of the Jewish studies program at New Jersey’s Drew University, comes the request that I write “a piece for the Forward about the Hebrew illiteracy of American Jews, as typified by l’shana tova greetings.” Sending me a photograph of such a greeting card, which he received from Philadelphia’s Gratz College, Professor Nadler writes:

“I got the same message from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

L’Shana tova… what? It’s really depressing.”

Both Professor Nadler and Ms. Mackson are referring to the fact that the Hebrew words l’shana tova, “for a good year,” are but part of the traditional new year’s greeting of l’shana tova tikateyvu, “May you be written [in the Book of Life] for a good year,” and make no grammatical sense in themselves. If one wishes to abbreviate the greeting, the grammatically correct way to do so is by saying shana tova, “a good year,” without the l’, or “for,” which stands in need of a phrase to follow it.

Both Professor Nadler and Ms. Mackson are certainly right about the grammar of l’shana tova. Nor would I dispute Professor Nadler’s assertion that the level of Hebrew literacy among American Jews is dismayingly low. Yet, is l’shana tova really such a good example of this? I’m far from sure. In the first place, one sometimes hears it from Hebrew-speaking Israelis, too. And second, the shortening of stock greetings is far from a uniquely Hebrew phenomenon, as we can see by looking at English. Here’s the beginning of a conversation that could take place anywhere in America:

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

And the same conversation might end:

“Bye.”

“See you.”

None of this seems to bother anyone, even though the speakers say “morning” when they mean “good morning”; use a word, “bye,” that is a contraction of a contraction — “goodbye” is originally an abbreviated form of “God be with you” — and utter a sentence, “See you,” that has a verb and direct object but no subject and is in the wrong tense to boot. (Who is the seer, and why doesn’t he use the future tense?) Is this any less outrageous than saying l’shana tova?

One might object that in these English examples it is the first part of the utterance that has been deleted for brevity’s sake, while in the case of l’shana tova it’s the second part. This doesn’t seem to me a significant difference, but let’s say, for the sake of the argument, that it is. Do we have closer parallels to l’shana tova in English?

Indeed we do. It’s not uncommon, for instance, to hear Americans say, “Well, have a happy” when referring to an occasion about to take place. To paraphrase Professor Nadler: Have a happy… what? Birthday? Anniversary? New Year’s Day? Although this isn’t an expression I particularly like, one can’t accuse those who use it of English illiteracy. At most they’re being flippantly cynical, as if implying that all celebrations are so alike that there’s no need to differentiate between them.

Or let’s take another expression that I not only don’t dislike but use all the time, as I did today when I ended five e-mails with “Best,” followed by my name. Once again, Professor Nadler might ask: Best… what? Wishes? Regards? If that’s what one means, why not say it? Preceding a signature, “Best” is an adjective that should no more be able to stand by itself without a noun than “Warm” or “Sincere” — yet while we do not end our letters with the latter two words, we see nothing wrong with ending them with “Best.” Why is l’shana tova any worse? Ms. Mackson’s annoyance with it indeed seems to me overdone.

I don’t mean by this to disagree with Professor Nadler’s larger point. Even Jewishly educated American Jews, unless they have spent a significant amount of time in Israel, have woefully little proficiency in Hebrew. I have more than once encountered graduates of 12 years of Jewish day school who could not successfully conduct a simple Hebrew conversation, let alone a more serious discussion, and it is certainly ironic that Hebrew, which was once the international language of the Jewish people, has ceased to be so precisely in an age in which it has again become, for the first time since antiquity, the spoken language of millions of Jews. There’s a great deal to ponder in that. I just don’t think that l’shana tova has much to do with it.

The post Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase appeared first on The Forward.

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Defense attorneys representing suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton are expected to call their first witness on day eight of the historic impeachment trial when it resumes at 9 a.m. Thursday.

An attorney representing the House impeachment managers rested their case Wednesday afternoon, but did so accidentally before the defense could cross-examine another whistleblower.

After wrapping up questioning of Blake Brickman — another whistleblower — attorney Rusty Hardin said, “The House rests.” He then apologized and added, “Here’s the problem: I messed up and shouldn’t have rested until [Tony Buzbee] finished his cross.” Buzbee then interjected by saying, “And yet you did.”

His move promoted Paxton’s attorneys to make a swift motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment on the ground that prosecutors didn’t prove enough evidence. However, defense ultimately withdrew their motion after senators met in private to consider their request for a directed verdict.

It is unclear how much time both parties have left in the trial, as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — presider of the trial — did not give a time update at the end of Wednesday. Since prosecution rested its case, it cannot bring in new witnesses but may have some time left for cross-examination of defense’s witnesses.

Paxton faces 16 articles of impeachment in the Senate that accuse him of abusing his powers as attorney general to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who faced federal investigation and is central to many of the allegations against Paxton. The suspended attorney general pleaded not guilty to all impeachment articles on day one of the trial and has not been present in the Senate since then.

(NewsNation) — As the nation collectively breathes a sigh of relief over the recapture of escaped killer Danelo Cavalcante, one individual who knows him in a way few others do has finally broken his silence.

Franco Rosa, Cavalcante’s former roommate, said he was too scared to speak out until now.

Rosa and Cavalcante were roommates for four months, up until the tragic day before Cavalcante killed his former girlfriend in April 2021.

In an exclusive interview with “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” Rosa recounted the intense anxiety he and his family endured as they learned of Cavalcante’s escape from prison and discussed the fear he felt during the 14 days Cavalcante managed to elude law enforcement.

“It was insane,” Rosa said, “At first I couldn’t believe he escaped prison, not here in America, like where we think it is the safest place in the world. And then afterward, like okay, is going to be tough for the next few hours, maybe by the next day. And it wasn’t happening.”

Over the weekend, authorities announced Cavalcante had apparently slipped out of the search area and changed his appearance.

“I got really anxious,” Rosa said.

Rosa described his growing anxiety as news emerged that Cavalcante was moving closer to his location.

“I don’t know what he’s capable of,” he said. “I don’t know if he’s gonna try to hurt someone. I originally thought he was trying to go west, and then to the border, like the Mexico border.”

Quickly taking action to protect himself and his family, Rosa said contacted the local police as soon as he learned of Cavalcante’s escape.

“I called the police and told them, ‘Hey, I’m his former roommate. Can you guys make sure he’s not coming this way? I want to make sure I’m safe.’ They came right away,” he said.

As Cavalcante drew closer to Rosa’s home, the police presence was increased.

“From Saturday to Sunday, I was going to call the police again, but they showed up before I called them,” Rosa said.

Rosa described Cavalcante as “quiet” and “shy.” He noted Cavalcante would avoid discussing personal matters and quickly change the topic if questions about his life in Brazil were raised.

“If you asked about him, he would try to start a different conversation,” Rosa recalled.

Rosa said he was shocked when he learned of Cavalcante’s previous murder in Brazil.

“I had no idea he will be able to do any of this,” he admitted “I didn’t suspect him at all. Even today, I’m like, really surprised that he did all of this. When I found out that he killed his ex, I was in like shock. I was like, ‘Wow, I was living with someone who was able to kill someone.’”

Rosa was uncertain about claims Cavalcante had survival skills that assisted in him avoiding capture.

“He never mentioned anything about training survival skills,” he stated. “In Brazil, there are a lot of trees with fruits on top, like really high trees. And maybe he did climb those trees when he was a teenager, you know, so maybe he knows how to do that stuff.”

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’s support lies on a spectrum of rape apologism and intimidation that shields predators

In the video they are wearing T-shirts, looking unkempt. Maybe a consultant from a crisis PR firm told them that it would be a bad look to appear on camera in the expensive getups they usually don for public appearances; maybe they just didn’t think that the task warranted a shower. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, married actors, sit before a wood-paneled background that might be a backyard fence, or the outer wall of a pool house. They are there to address the letters they recently wrote to a Los Angeles court, attesting to the good character of their friend Danny Masterson.

Kutcher and Kunis were posting the video – well, not to apologize, exactly, since they didn’t. But perhaps to clean up the mess of bad publicity that had resulted from the letters. Masterson, Kutcher and Kunis’s costar from That ’70s Show, is now a convicted serial rapist; the letters were meant to convince the judge that he was somehow also a good person, one who did not deserve severe punishment. The clip, which appeared on Instagram, featured the couple speaking from a script. Their faces were fixed in uncannily still emotionlessness. “We support victims,” Kunis said to the camera, her eyes steely and her voice containing no conviction.

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