The manufacture of aluminum is highly energy-intensive, much more so than that of iron and steel (which uses neither electrolysis nor electric process heat), and one might therefore conclude that using aluminum is a waste of energy. However, quite apart from the fact that great strides have been made in improving the energy efficiency of aluminum production (the energy consumption per kg dropped from 25 kWh in 1950 to 14 kWh in 1980), the additional energy may be more than repaid during the life of the product due to the weight of aluminum, which is some 3.5 times lighter than steel for the same volume. The newsletter Energie-Nachrichten of the Swiss Energy Forum (#5/1984) reports two examples: Subway carriage: Dump car: aluminum weight 3,000 kg gain in payload 1,500 kg replaced steel weight 6,000 kg excess energy invested 70,000 kWh excess energy invested 30,000 kWh annual energy saving 50,000 kWh electric power savings net energy saving over 30-year life 510,000 kWh over 5-year life 250,000 kWh But who is to decide whether to invest energy to save energy? Lovins? The Department of Energy? Democratically elected energy conservation commissioners? Scientific experts? The non-Marxist way (and here I switch from Harpo to Karl) leaves the decision to the one who puts his money on the line: this has a way of concentrating his mind that a conservation expert, democratically elected or bureaucratically appointed, can never achieve.
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Vol. 12, No. 2
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 12, No. 2 Date: November 29, 2004 12:33 PM Title: The NRC kills 42 people
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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