{"id":7844,"date":"2016-10-30T22:19:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T02:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/climate-change-is-heating-up-foundries\/"},"modified":"2016-10-30T22:19:25","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T02:19:25","slug":"climate-change-is-heating-up-foundries","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/climate-change-is-heating-up-foundries\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change is Heating Up Foundries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate Change Challenge \u2013 Waupaca Foundry <\/strong><\/p>\n

Waupaca Foundry is a metal casting company that has 4,400 employees, nine foundries and machine shops, and is headquartered in Waupaca, WI.[1]<\/a> Waupaca is one of the largest foundries in the United States and has a diversified customer base that includes automotive, industrial, and agricultural equipment. They are known in the industry for their lean manufacturing methods, operating efficiency, and technology advancement. The foundry industry is very affected by the advances of climate change regulations because it is considered a \u201cdirty\u201d industry. This essay will describe why foundries are bad for the environment and provide examples of how Waupaca Foundry is combating climate change despite the nature of the industry.<\/p>\n

A foundry is a factory that melts and pours metal into a mold to form a part. Many types of metals can be melted down but the most common are ferrous. Foundries negatively impact the environment in two ways: they consume copious amounts of energy and release hazardous air pollutants. Foundries typically melt metal via two methods: an electric induction furnace or a cupola (coke fired) furnace. Coke is a type of fuel made from coal.<\/p>\n

Waupaca Foundry uses both cupolas and electric furnaces for their operations. They are the largest electricity consumer in the state of Wisconsin. Here is a summary of their energy use in 2014: \u201cIt takes a large amount of energy to melt metals and run our operations, including natural gas, electricity, and coke. We used 854,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in 2014. Our combined energy consumption from coke, natural gas, and electricity was over 15,800,000 million British thermal units (mmBtu). We also track our energy consumption per ton of product shipped so we can capture gains in energy efficiency that may occur even as our overall energy increases due to higher production rates. Our consolidated energy intensity was 10.82 mmBtu\/ton of product shipped for 2014.\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a> For the cupola melt Waupaca uses 10% natural gas, 50% electricity, and 40% coke. The electric furnaces use 5% natural gas and 95% electricity.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see, they use a large amount of energy and an alarming amount of coke. Waupaca has been making great strides to reduce their energy consumption and has committed to reducing their energy intensity by 25% by 2020. They participate in an energy efficiency and long-term sustainability program call Better Plants that is run by the U.S. Department of Energy. They have begun to implement energy reduction projects such as using excess foundry heat for building\/hot water heating. They have Installed energy efficient lighting and have begun using high efficiency motors.<\/p>\n

Foundries are also notorious for harmful emissions such as dust, sand, and harmful particles. Greenhouse gas emissions are divided into three categories:<\/p>\n