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Or refining aluminum, which uses something like 1.5% of all US electricity generation.
by HideousKojima 2y ago
Or refining aluminum, which uses something like 1.5% of all US electricity generation.
- kragen 2y agoit would be much more, but the us imports 130% of the aluminum it consumes from places with lower energy costs: https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2022/mcs2022-aluminum.pdf https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2022/mcs2022-aluminum.p...
- bobthepanda 2y agoBahrain and UAE being big aluminum smelters is a bit surprising.
- HPsquared 2y agoIceland too. It takes a few workers and a lot of energy. Very sensitive to market conditions though. Peaky.
- cameldrv 2y agoExporting aluminum is basically exporting electricity, except aluminum is easy to ship, costs very little to store, and has an indefinite shelf life. For places with a lot of natural gas and no pipelines to export it, it’s often easier to export aluminum than liquified gas.
- kragen 2y agoif you're burning it in aluminum-air fuel cells, it can be literally exporting electricity. right now that isn't a commercial-scale activity, but possibly it will become profitable in the coming years for places with a lot of solar power and no hvdc lines to export it
- beachy 2y agoThe Tiwai Point aluminum smelter uses 13% of New Zealand's electricity [0] It's overseas owners are constantly playing hardball with the country over the price they pay. Feels like every year they threaten to shut the smelter down unless they get better electricity rates. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwai_Point_Aluminium_Smelter https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwai_Point_Aluminium_Smelte...