This article examines the energy transition in the iron industry and studies the consequence of this switch to coal-fueling technology upon forests: what happens to long-lived energy carriers when a new source of heat and power makes significant inroads into their own markets? What factors underpin the substitution of older raw materials by new ones? The major lesson to be drawn from the iron industry energy transition points to the fact that within the "transitional" time-frame one may expect either the effective substitution of the older energy carrier or incentives to its actual expansion. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.