Analysis of energy efficiency and consumption in South African steel foundries

Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. Lack of efficient process skills, education and training has become a major issue in recent years regarding the up-stepping of energy efficiency in steel industries. This paper highlights the overview of the current state of energy efficiency in South African foundries, improvements made and challenges faced by the foundry industry in South Africa upon implementation of energy efficiency. In this paper we acknowledge the need for studying the current energy consumption and the improvement that has been done in order to analyse the problems of implementation. Barriers studied are: lack of capital, resistance to change, uncertainties and attitude. An active interaction between the academia and foundry industry (men) will further enhance suitable skills to move South African steel foundries in to an energy efficient industry