Aluminum+Production+Could+Get+Much+Better+For+The+Environment

Aluminum Production Could Get Much Better for the Environment Rob Verger May 10, 2018 https://www.popsci.com/aluminum-apple Apple

Summary: Aluminum is used in many electronic devices: computers and laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, etc. However, the production of aluminum is not very sustainable. For the past 100 years, aluminum has been produced in the same process. It has been producing carbon dioxide. Now, scientists have found a way to produce aluminum with the waste product being oxygen, not carbon dioxide. Two aluminum mining and processing companies named Alcoa and Rio Tinto have teamed up to make this process a reality. First, bauxite is refined to make aluminum oxide. Then in a super hot chamber, electricity separates the aluminum oxide into liquid aluminum and oxygen, but the oxygen then combines with carbon, which produces carbon dioxide. However, Alcoa and Rio Tinto's joint venture, Elysis, uses a separate compound which produces only oxygen. Apple is now sponsoring the joint venture, which it hopes will reduce costs and its carbon footprint.

Relation to Class: We have mentioned before in APES how industrial processes create a rise in greenhouse gas emissions. The entirety of chapter 19 of the Miller chapter focuses on the anthropogenic effects that increased human activity has had on climate change, specifically global warming. While aluminum production hasn't been explicitly mentioned in the textbook, it is implied that this is one of many industrial processes that contribute to global warming.

Opinion: I am very intrigued at the idea of a new way of smelting and producing aluminum without the negative side effects (i.e. CO2 production) that is usually associated with aluminum smelting. I was also very surprised to see Apple, a humongous technology giant, being at the forefront of this movement and being a benefactor of this process.

Law: The Clean Air Act of 1963 poses heavy regulation on industries which emit large amounts of air pollutants into the atmosphere. It also made sure that toxic air pollution was addressed as a serious problem, and mandated for it to be controlled.