Solar may be growing, but hydropower remains the backbone of “Green ALuminium” – here’s to it!

“Green Aluminium” is relatively a modern term referred to the metal produced with significantly lower carbon footprint. This is mainly achieved through recycling or using recycled metal as input, deploying breakthrough technologies such as inert anodes and carbon capture and storage, or through the use of renewable energy sources like hydropower, solar, wind or geothermal electricity. While there is no particular global standard, but usually, aluminium with up to 4 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of metal is commonly used across the industry as a low-carbon reference. This is a cradle-to-gate measurement equivalent to GHG Protocol of Scope 1, Scope 2 and relevant upstream Scope 3 emissions from bauxite mining, alumina refining, and high energy-intensive smelting process.

Recycled and Renewable – how much is not too much

The recycled content varies across products, such as primary foundry alloy products contain close to 30 per cent of post-consumer scrap, while some products even contain 75 per cent. Scrap usage saves almost 95 per cent of energy consumption as compared to the primary aluminium production process. On average, the energy intensity of primary aluminium is around 70 GJ per tonne, making it more power-intensive than steel and cement on a per-tonne basis.