Aluminum – A Sustainable Material
Nowadays sustainability is a relevant issue for every single activity that can have a negative impact on the environment. This issue is still more relevant as we englobe the manufacturing activities. This field is constantly looking for strategies to be more efficient on materials use and energy consumption.
Aluminum is an important material to the economy since the use of this metal increased significantly over the years and also because this is an important material in terms of sustainability production. Aluminum demonstrates characteristics such as lightness, strength and a high capacity of being recycled.
It’s possible to see the aluminum efficiency in different stages. Aluminum products have lower energy consumption and consequently it reduces the production costs. It also reduces significantly the carbon emissions from these processes.
When we analyze the utilization of this material, we also can see how sustainable it is. For example, coated aluminum roofs reflect 95% of sunlight, which help to increase the building efficiency. Independent studies have discovered that aluminum has 20 % smaller life cycle energy consumption than steel in transportation.
North America aluminum production has been shown to be more sustainable because of the technological advances and voluntary environmental efforts. The necessary energy to produce new aluminum nowadays is down more than a quarter since 1995 and the industry’s carbon footprint is down nearly 40 percent.
Aluminum is an important manufacturing ally for increasing the sustainable standards of the production. It can be an option for you and you will contribute for a world more environmentally sustainable.
Source: The Aluminum Association
Date: November 9, 2018
