| Abstract: | The Kyoto Protocol of December 1997 highlighted the importance of greenhouse gas emissions. The metallurgical process industry
is a contributor to these emissions and would be seriously affected by measures curtailing them. The present lecture offers
a brief review of the greenhouse effect, the sources of greenhouse gases, the potential effect of these gases on global warming,
the response of the international community, and the probable cost of national compliance. The specific emissions of the metallurgical
process industry, particularly those of the steel and aluminum sectors, are then examined. The potential applications of life-cycle
assessments and of an input-output model in programs of emissions’ abatement are investigated, and, finally, a few remarks
on some implications for education are presented.
Thank you for the honor and the pleasure of addressing you today. I am indeed grateful.
I have chosen to speak on greenhouse gases and the metallurgical process industry, because I believe the issue is topical
and I hope you will find it of interest. A comprehensive analysis of such a vast subject is clearly beyond the scope of this
lecture. I have chosen instead to give you a brief overview of the situation and to examine a few particular points.
As you are well aware, in the last three decades, the metallurgical industry has been faced with an explosion of environmental
laws and regulations. Greenhouse gases and global warming appear to represent the next threat. That threat generates a wide
spectrum of reactions, from concerned interest to indignant incredulity.
I propose to start with a quick review of the greenhouse effect, the sources of greenhouse gases, the potential effect of
these gases on global warming, the response of the international community, and the probable cost of national compliance.
I shall then focus on the metallurgical process industry (mostly the steel and aluminum industries), and investigate the possible
usage of life-cycle assessments as well as the potential of an input-output model for the analysis of various alternatives.
I will also make a few remarks on certain implications for education.
The Extraction and Processing Lecturer Award honors an outstanding scientific leader in the field of nonferrous extractive
metallurgy with an invitation to present a comprehensive lecture at the TMS Annual Meeting.
Dr. Claude H.P. Lupis is the recipient of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s (TMS) 1999 Extraction & Processing
Lecture Award. This award was first established in 1955 to recognize an eminent individual in the extraction and processing
of nonferrous metals with an invitation to present a comprehensive lecture at the TMS Annual Meeting. Dr. Lupis, Principal
of Claude Lupis & Associates Pty. Ltd. (Sydney, Australia) has been appointed the Danae and Vasilis Salapatas Professor of
Ferrous Metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) (1998–2003).
Dr. Lupis earned his M.S. at the University of Paris, his M.B.A. from the Institut d’Administration des Entreprises, and his
degree of Ingenieur Civil des Mines from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris. He also obtained his D.Sc. in
metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors throughout
his career, including the Senior United States Scientist Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1975, and being
named a Ford Foundation Fellow in 1965 and 1970.
Dr. Lupis has authored or co-authored more than 40 papers, a graduate-level textbook, and two pedagogical films. He owns a
patent on the desulfurization of fluorite ores. |
