December 30th, 2006
Aluminum is a major component of any cars and fortunately for the US, cars are often recycled for aluminum which makes the sourcing of the metal relatively easy. About 90% of automotive aluminum is recycled, so that a smaller portion of newly extracted aluminum is needed. But with the growing demand for cars driven by the increasing population, there is greater pressure on producing aluminum, which is an energy intensive process.
Thanks to Alcan, a company that has developed aluminum technologies, the cost of producing aluminum has decreased due to a process that cuts energy consumption by 20%.