The foundry industry is energy-intense and energy-challenged. The Founders’ Livery work very closely with the industry’s trade body, the Cast Metals Federation, who in turn have been part of the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge which has improving energy efficiency and fuel switching as key aims. The industry is also a key part of the circular economy for metals. Founders are the original recyclers, so have much to shout about.
The Federation has a UK Castings Industry net zero group that has published a roadmap to net zero. It is very active with its members in this work. Details of the road map are here: www.castmetalsfederation.com/about/net-zero-road-map
The roadmap sets out how the UK castings manufacturers can lead in competing globally, growing the industry, decarbonising components, providing strategic resilience to UK supply chains, creating jobs and wealth for the UK making the components required for a modern economy.
The road map makes the point that the industry can be part of the solution for the UK, making use of recycled metal to produce locally sourced components and leading the way in the supply of low carbon, cast metal components and finished products, including those needed for greener technologies.
Reversing the leakage of economic strength for the UK casting and foundry industry is no easy task, but is the ambition set out in this roadmap.
To return £10 billion of GVA to the UK and support the national transition to a net zero future, a partnership with the government is proposed to align foundry sector investment with government industrial decarbonisation policies. These policies otherwise threaten to destroy the UK’s remaining foundry capacity before the transition to net zero really begins.
LCAG is grateful to Dr Pam Murrell FICME who chairs the Livery’s Industry Committee and was the CEO of the Cast Metals Federation until recently.
This drive to net zero is shown in this recent excellent example of the work of Coles Castings whose expertise was used to help build a more environmentally sustainable furnace using waste oil in partnership with Arizona State University. This is further explained in the article. The design is similar to the furnace used by Coles Castings in their Dorset workshop.
A Sustainable Melt Furnace for School and Small Foundry Applications – Coles Castings