It's true that smelting aluminium is a hugely energy intensive process, but it can use energy wherever and whenever it's available. That's actually a much bigg

It's true that smelting aluminium is a hugely energy intensive process, but it can use energy wherever and whenever it's available. That's actually a much bigger deal than it sounds like, because the biggest hassle with solar and wind - the best forms of renewable energy we have, if nuclear is politically impossible - is bridging the gap in time and space between availability of the energy and people wanting to use it. If we start being able to store energy in the form of aluminum, that would be great. Put the aluminum plant in the desert next to however many hectares of solar panels, let it spend all day soaking up solar energy, no need for power grid upgrades.