ABSTRACT
One basic reason why energy conservation is not on the cards is because energy means power and greater energy consumption has become a status symbol. The other fundamental reason for failing to control energy wastage, and with it pollution, is that in the go-go years which followed World War II the concept of wastage itself became second nature. Theoretically, but only theoretically, new technology can reduce energy wastage, but such applications are neither widespread nor can they single-handedly reverse past trends. Nevertheless, the US Electric Power Research Institute estimates that simply adding variable speed controls too many electric devices would be enough to offset most of the added energy that will be used by the new electrical industrial technologies projected to be introduced in the next few years. Traditional open-hearth steel furnaces have largely been replaced by more efficient oxygen furnaces and electric arc furnaces that recycle scrap steel.
