AISI celebrates St. Patrick's day with steel
The American Iron and Steel Institute is celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year by getting the word out on why green is the color of the North American steel industry.
The industry group released a press announcement March 13 which enumerated the ways in which steel (not green beer) is the greenest choice for manufacturers this St. Patty's day.
AISI says that steel has "moved from the stereotypical resource-consuming production and heavy waste of the industrial revolution into an era of self-consciousness and positive reform."
Some ways that steel is environmentally-friendly include: recylability, not only of steel itself but of the water and gases used to make it; the industry's support of environmental issue groups; the industry's leadership in pursuing energy efficiency and emissions reductions (AISI says that the industry is 240 years ahead of the Kyoto Protocol!) and more.
To see the full top-ten list of reasons why steel is green, visit AISI's website at www.steel.org.
ArcelorMittal receivs ENERGY STAR award for its green efforts
In other "green steel" news, ArcelorMittal was recently selected as a 2008 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for Energy Management by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its efforts to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.
In late 2005 ArcelorMittal set a goal to reduce energy intensity by 6 percent over a three-year time period using 2005 as a baseline, equating to a reduction of $192 million in energy costs by 2009. The company also established the ArcelorMittal Energy Committee in 2005 to inform employees about energy awareness and identify strategies to improve energy efficiency at every US ArcelorMittal facility.
"ArcelorMittal's leadership in managing their energy use is a model for other businesses looking for ways to protect the environment," said Robert J. Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air & Radiation. "Because commercial and industrial facilities account for half of all energy consumption in the US and are responsible for nearly half of US greenhouse gas emissions, energy management is a critical element in our efforts on climate change."
Past ENERGY STAR include Toyota, PepsiCo, Ford, Merck, J.C. Penney, McDonald's and Raytheon. ArcelorMittal will be honored at an awards ceremony hosted by the US EPA on April 1, 2008, in Washington, D.C.
Retired steel exec. gives back to community
The former chairman of specialty steelmaker Allegheny Technologies Inc. and his wife are donating $500,000 to an African-American culture center in downtown Pittsburgh.
Richard P. Simmons and his wife Virginia have made this very generous donation for the planned $35.9 million August Wilson Center for African American Culture, which will house permanent exhibitions, performances and educational programming. The center is named after the Pittsburgh native and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, August Wilson.
This isn't the Simmons' first major act of generosity -- In 1999, Mr. Simmons, who also served as CEO of Allegheny Ludlum and later as president and CEO of Allegheny Teledyne Inc. in Pittsburgh, donated $20 million to his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Henry Ford Museum acquires first steel school bus
The Henry Ford Museum, America's most famous automotive history museum, has acquired the first steel-boded school bus.
The museum, located in Dearborn, Michigan, has acquired the Blue Bird No 1, built on a 1927 Ford Model T. Chasis by Albert Luce, owner of Ford dealerships in Fort Valley and Perry, Georgia.
Luce invented the steel school bus after a wood-bodied bus he sold to a customer deteriorated before the customer had finished paying for it. Luce ended up constructing a better school bus using steel angles, channels, and sheets. He then mounted it to a 1927 Ford Model T Chasis and sold it to a customer in Georgia to be used as a school bus. Within eight years, all major school bus manufacturers
were producing steel-bodied buses.
The bus will go on display in the Henry Ford Museum in May 2008.
Click here to see a picture of the bus and here to see more information about the Henry Ford Museum.