The evolution of resource efficiency in the United Kingdom's steel sector: An exergy approach

Resource efficiency is a key component of sustainable policies and practices, particularly in industries with high energy demands. Using empirical data, this paper evaluates the long-term performance (1960-2009) of the United Kingdom steel sector through the exergy-based metrics of resource efficiency and useful exergy efficiency. The analysis is broken down into two production pathways: the basic oxygen furnace and the electric arc furnace. The scope includes electricity generation and steel refining. It incorporates energy and material inputs, as well as by-products as useful outputs. The exergy-based indicators demonstrate the benefit of measuring both the quality and quantity of resources. The results are contextualised to gain insights into the long-term impact of political and socioeconomic transitions on resource consumption trends. Over the period, the sector's overall resource efficiency went from 19% to 32%. Between 2% and 4% of this improvement results from the reincorporation of by-products into production processes. The basic oxygen furnace route's resource efficiency increased by 9% whilst the electric arc furnace route rose by 20%. These improvements occurred via the promotion of successful energy saving policies rather than the diversion of large amounts of scrap inputs into the furnaces. This paper shows that both the resource efficiency and useful exergy efficiency indicators are a valuable complement to the benchmark metrics (energy intensity and material efficiency). This is because they can quantify the interactions and trade-offs between energy and material flows.