Apple Begins Buying Aluminum Made With Carbon-Free Process, Plans to Use in Select Products

[DailySlow]

I wonder how much this will cost the consumer in added Apple product cost ?

Hard to say. Many moving parts- including increased overhead on aluminum processed in a soon-to-be-obsolete way such as carbon taxation, regulations, and if course how the PR about this goes. A big question is can this electricity demanding refining process run on solar, or even wind? Boy that would be cool.
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Aluminium smelting has always used lots of electricity and the majority of it has always been done close to sites of lots of cheap electricity such as nuclear, geothermal and hydroelectric power stations. Production using coal fired power only happens if none of the above are available because it is generally less economic.

Apple has probably always used "carbon free" aluminium since most aluminium has always been made that way.

Welcome as the move is; this is economics being marketed as environmentalism.

Well, not so much if this can function on solar or wind.

 

[MadDawg2020]

They is no such thing as carbon free, they will allways be some form of energy requirements that has a carbon footprint what you can go is reduce it as much as possible and that’s what Apple is doing and it’s good it’s the way forward reduce it as much as possible but you will never be able to eliminate it and these daft claims carbon free is just BS PR

What part of "CARBON FREE SMELTING PROCESS" is so difficult for you to understand?! It does not say there is zero carbon footprint involved anywhere in the production line, only the process for smelting the Aluminum. - And yes that is a big deal and will make a difference when you scale that up to industrial scales!

 

[Plutonius]

A big question is can this electricity demanding refining process run on solar, or even wind? Boy that would be cool.

I hope you are right.

Any cost increases are usually passed on to customers .

- And yes that is a big deal and will make a difference when you scale that up to industrial scales!

But will it mean higher cost for us ?

 

[Mojohanna32]

Aluminium smelting has always used lots of electricity and the majority of it has always been done close to sites of lots of cheap electricity such as nuclear, geothermal and hydroelectric power stations. Production using coal fired power only happens if none of the above are available because it is generally less economic.

Apple has probably always used "carbon free" aluminium since most aluminium has always been made that way.

Welcome as the move is; this is economics being marketed as environmentalism.

THis is not correct per the article. The article states that that traditional smelting is done using a carbon anode and that the byproduct is CO2. The new process uses a ceramic anode and the byproduct is O2. They have also stated the process is less expensive.
So yes, the new SMELTING process is carbon free.

 

[AppleZilla]

Tim Cook will have to let Individual 1 stand next to him and brag that he founded Apple, if he wants to avoid tariffs.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Apple is increasing their footprint in Canada. Give it a bit of time and Apple world headquarters may be near Vancouver.

It already is near Vancouver, for certain definitions of the word "Near" ?

 

[BigBoy2018]

I'm excited to see what Apple makes with this. Very excited.

Guess: TV shows made of nothing but aluminum

Seriously though, why so excited? They’ll use it to male the same kind of products they already use aluminum for - laptops, ipads, phones, etc

 

[WestonHarvey1]

They just plant Y trees bunch of trees for every X tonnes of aluminum they refine.

 

[BruceEBonus]

This is going to save the world! ?

 

[mi7chy]

While I'm sure Alcoa will produce some here in the U.S., the joint venture will have production in Canada.

As long as it goes to one of our allies the policies are working to move manufacturing away from China.

 

[DanBig]

While this is a good thing! Smelting Iron & Steel use much more energy and create much more CO2 per pound!

Apple needs to help find ways to lower their Carbon footprint too! They still use a lot of steel in the iPhones!

 

[hybra]

good, but will it blend?

 

[ColBatGuano]

Aluminium smelting has always used lots of electricity and the majority of it has always been done close to sites of lots of cheap electricity such as nuclear, geothermal and hydroelectric power stations. Production using coal fired power only happens if none of the above are available because it is generally less economic.

Apple has probably always used "carbon free" aluminium since most aluminium has always been made that way.

Welcome as the move is; this is economics being marketed as environmentalism.

Depends on how cheap the coal is. In Victoria (Australia) we have had extremely easy to extract (low quality) coal that's provided low cost power for aluminium smelting.

 

[TurboDrooler]

I was amazed last year to learn that Apple has a Metallurgy division. It's cool that they're working on problems other than just how to lower costs and increase profits.

 

[citysnaps]

I was amazed last year to learn that Apple has a Metallurgy division. It's cool that they're working on problems other than just how to lower costs and increase profits.

Apple's profit margin has decreased every year for the last four years.

 

[Plutonius]

This is going to save the world! ?

I myself think that a better use of the money is to stop producing products in countries that are major polluters (China etc).

 

[bluecoast]

That’s brilliant. Apple with their size can force big changes in the manufacturing supply chain & use their power for good.

With great power comes great responsibility.

 

[ksec]

Alcoa and Rio Tinto aim to commercialize and license the carbon-free smelting process beginning in 2024

Does that it will be exclusive to Apple til 2024?

 

[sunman42]

Conspiracy theory: Apple fired Ive so they could spell/pronounce aluminium incorrectly.

Np, they did it so they pronounce aluminum correctly.