Within the next decade low carbon aluminium will be the predominant form of aluminium we will be using, explains Principal at Hassell Studio and Chair of MECLA Aluminium Working Group Jeff Morgan.
Low carbon aluminium has a lower embodied carbon content compared to current global benchmarks. And while there is no set number of carbon intensity that defines low carbon aluminium, the target range is from anything below the Australian average of about 12 kilograms of carbon per kilogram of aluminium down to about 4 kilograms of carbon per kilo.
“However given some recent project examples I would certainly be targeting aluminium produced using hydroelectricity so down lower towards the 4 rather than that broader range of 12 to 4,” Jeff says.
He says this kind of aluminium is now starting to be offered locally through local extruders and fabricators like Capral and Alspec.
“Low carbon aluminium can be virgin or primary, produced using renewable energy sources like hydroelectricity rather than fossil fuels or it can be recycled or secondary aluminium, which again can be made using either fossil fuels or renewables, to further lower the carbon intensity”.
He adds that the lowest carbon products on the market that are fully recycled and produced using renewables have a carbon intensity near 0.
“So Hydro, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers… have just recently launched their latest and most advanced aluminium product called 100 R which stands for 100% recycled”.
100R is an innovation that uses post consumer scrap that’s remelted into new, clean alloy.
Jeffs says aluminium is the perfect circular material as it’s infinitely recyclable without degrading in quality. When aluminium is remelted to make a new alloy it only takes 5% of the original energy to make that new metal.
Making new aluminium, however, takes an enormous amount of energy. In Australia the four aluminium smelters along the east coast consume nearly 10% of the east coast electricity grid capacity alone. This is about to change with Tomago committed to running fully on renewables by 2025 and Rio Tinto signing Australia’s biggest renewable power purchase agreement to date.
“The aluminium industry knows that they have a high energy demand and they know that that energy is coming from coal and they're looking for ways to decarbonise their energy”.
Jeff adds that through the MECLA working group they’ve heard and helped dispel a lot of common myths surrounding low carbon aluminium, including the myth that recycled aluminium is inferior to its virgin counterpart.
He says the automotive industry has been quick to understand the value in sourcing low carbon aluminium with the likes of BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Tesla all purchasing low carbon aluminium and marketing that within their vehicles.
“The most well known company to use low carbon aluminium and a fair amount of it is Apple. It’s used in nearly all of their phones, watches and ipads. Last year they unveiled their first carbon neutral product”.
“Aluminium is used everywhere in our day to day lives from buildings to cars and phones. Low carbon aluminium in the construction sector in Australia is really just starting to emerge”.
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