The International Aluminium Institute’s (IAI) Global Energy Survey 2020 has revealed that global production of primary aluminum and metallurgical alumina has increased by 54pc and 50pc, respectively, over the past decade.
Still, the intensity of refining energy dropped by 25pc while the electrolysis energy intensity decreased by 40pc over this period.
Data from the IAI survey, which was released on Tuesday, indicated that the impact of this 10-year energy saving is equivalent to 3.2TeraWatt or the annual energy consumption of Jamaica.
Energy consumption accounts for over two-thirds of the aluminum industry’s global greenhouse gas emissions and the data noted evidence of this sector customizing pathways to tackle the problem.
Smelting and refining energy intensity in the aluminum industry improved by about 0.5pc in 2020 from the prior year according to Linlin Wu, IAI’s manager of Statistical Analysis in the release. Of the six global regions surveyed, China showed significant improvement in its refining energy efficiency, while the country’s smelting improvements remained consistent.
Throughout 2020, renewable energy grew by 1pc across all regions barring Asia (outside China) showing an increase. More than 30mn mt of aluminum scrap is recycled globally, IAI noted in its report.