Various sectors are accelerating on net zero emissions and are putting a greater emphasis on green energy and renewable energy policies in order to suppress the global average surface temperature to within 2°C. According to an Australian research team, an estimated 486 tons of aluminum would need to be produced if 60TW of solar installed capacity is required before 2050. This will actually end up increasing the emission of carbon dioxide.
Aluminum is second to silver, copper, and gold in terms of conductivity as well as lightweight, and is excellent in corrosion resistance, which is why it is often applied in solar cells, frames, brackets, and inverters. A research team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) believes that aluminum is abundant and affordable, though an inhibition of the average temperature increase to within 2°C will have to take into account the high level of energy and emission of greenhouse gases during the primary production of aluminum.
The UNSW team discovered that electrification among various industries is expected to result in 60TW of solar demand and 486 tons of aluminum demand by 2050. The increased emission of greenhouse gases and the potential impacts that the production of aluminum will have on global warming will end up damaging the “green reputation” of solar energy.
The team projects that one ton of aluminum production would emit 14.5 tons of carbon dioxide. Alison Lennon, a researcher at the team, commented that the inability to reduce the intensity of carbon emissions during primary production will end up emitting as much as 3,000Mt of CO2e, so industries should do their best to use recycled aluminum or decarbonizing aluminum refining to help stop global warming.
The team hopes to improve the aluminum refining technology, propose potential alternatives, as well as recycle and reuse aluminum through this study. They believe that the recycling and reusing approach will always be the best remedy since secondary production only requires roughly 5% of energy to that of primary production, and it merely emits 3-5% of carbon as opposed to primary production. The team wishes to see an increment from 34% in 2020 to 75% by 2050 regarding the rate of aluminum recycling and reusing.
The researchers emphasized that only a reduction of carbon footprint in aluminum production within the next 10 years would suppress carbon emission to within 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050.
(Cover photo source: pixabay)