A proposed Biden administration energy efficiency rule raises the most difficult question in fighting climate change: What costs are we willing to take on right now to improve lives in the future — and who will bear those costs?
Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs reports that it will have to close its Butler Works plant, knocking 1,300 people out of work, if the regulation goes into effect in three years’ time. Meanwhile, U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Butler; Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall; and Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, have proposed legislation that would postpone implementation until a decade from now.
We believe it’s possible to achieve necessary energy efficiency gains while minimizing the effect on Western Pennsylvania workers. Mr. Biden’s Department of Energy should work with the Pittsburgh-area legislators to find a compromise timeframe that will give Cleveland-Cliffs enough time to transition its Butler Works to other marketable products. The DOE has been exploring investments in American steel products since 2020’s clean energy legislation.
At issue are transformers, the tightly-packed metal coils that alter electric voltage. The electricity grid requires them to distribute current through power lines and into homes and businesses. A mini version lives in the chunky part of a laptop charger to ensure currents are suitable for your device.
Traditional, grain-oriented electrical steel transformers rely on metal with a parallel atomic structure to conduct current, and the the Butler facility is the only American plant that produces them. Amorphous steel cores (AMTs), however, have a less orderly atomic structure, which turns out to be more efficient. They create lasting savings, both for the climate and the energy grid, but at a higher up-front cost. The DOE rule would update efficiency standards to rule out grain-oriented transformers, making AMTs ubiquitous.
Only one U.S. company makes them: MetGlas in South Carolina, with fewer than 200 employees.
Other countries have proven that AMTs work: Currently, around 90% of transformers in Canada use AMTs, while the U.S. hovers around just 5%. The bigger question is whether the U.S. can ramp up production fast enough to avoid supply chain bottlenecks that could threaten the country’s already fragile electrical grids.
The waiting period for supplying a new transformer is long, and the supply chain is weak. Delaying the regulations beyond three years, but not all the way to 10 years, could provide buffer for the sector as a whole to transition.
Since most U.S. electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels, making every transformer perform at AMT efficiency would cut carbon dioxide emission by 340 million metric tons over three decades, according to the Department of Energy. That’s equivalent to the exhaust from 2.5 million cars each year.
Still, that’s only 0.23% of U.S. carbon emissions. But this is often the case for policies regarding climate change: It’s a large number of small changes, like upgrading window sealants and more efficient transformers, that will bring ultimate success.
The transition to AMTs will and must occur, whether Western Pennsylvania likes it or not. Its representatives should dedicate themselves to buying a reasonable amount of time, and to helping the Butler Works transition to a new business model — not to trying to stave off the inevitable, forever.
First Published: February 27, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 27, 2024, 12:55 p.m.
