WorldAutoSteel, the automotive sector programme of the World Steel Association (worldsteel), has announced that the use of new grades of Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS) in vehicles saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions significantly. The latest findings on energy savings and CO2 emission reductions show that steel is the lowest generator of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in comparison to competing materials. This signifies the importance of material choice in vehicle design and the application of life cycle assessment (LCA). For every 1kg of AHSS used in a vehicle, there is a total life cycle saving of 8kg CO2 equivalents. Further, if all vehicle bodies produced globally were fabricated with AHSS, the annual emissions savings is estimated to be 156 million tonnes of CO2. LCA has been adopted by the steel industry as a means to comprehensively evaluate material choices and their effect on life cycle GHGs. LCA models developed by the University of California enables comparison of automotive materials and their associated GHGs across all phases of the vehicle life cycle.
