Environment: Did You Know

Lightweighting the world’s transportation fleet – passenger cars, trucks, rail vehicles, air and sea craft – through the use of automotive aluminum has the potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 660 million tons annually, or nearly 9 percent of global, transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. Moving toward the future of the automotive industry, matching powertrain advances with improvements in vehicle structures by reducing their weight with auto aluminum will help save consumers money at the pump, fuel overall and even the planet through reduced emissions.

Fewer Emissions

• Each pound of automotive aluminum replacing two pounds of iron or steel in a car can save a net 20 pounds of CO₂ emissions over the typical lifecycle of a vehicle
• The use of auto aluminum for vehicle lightweighting can deliver a substantial reduction in CO₂ and other emissions over the life of the vehicle through better gas mileage, even when considering the CO₂ generated by the initial production of aluminum
• The aluminum industry cut CO₂ factory emissions by 86 percent from 1990 to 2006

Increased Fuel Economy

• Industry experts rank automotive aluminum use as a top option and “very significant” to meet the federal mandate to improve fuel economy by 40 percent by 2020
• A more fuel-efficient vehicle (through lightweighting with automotive aluminum), produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions
• Consumers can get a 5 to 7 percent vehicle gas mileage increase for every 10 percent weight reduction by substituting high-strength, low-weight auto aluminum for heavier steel
• Consumers could save fuel and money while reducing emissions through greater use of low weight automotive aluminum especially in hybrid- and diesel-powered vehicles
• Research revealed that aluminum-structured hybrids receive a 13.5 percent increase in fuel economy over a steel-bodied hybrid. Similarly, the aluminum-bodied diesel saw a 13.1 percent improvement in fuel economy when compared to the steel-bodied diesel vehicle
• Use of automotive aluminum in 2006 model year vehicles alone has saved 14.5 billion gallons of gasoline or about 350 million barrels of crude oil. This figure is nearly equal to the amount of oil that the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia each year

Recyclable Advantages

• Recycling aluminum saves nearly 95 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with primary aluminum production
• Automotive aluminum is infinitely recyclable and uses only 5 percent of the original energy required to put it back into a reusable form
• Today, aluminum is the most commonly recycled material in the world
• Nearly 90 percent of auto aluminum is recovered and recycled
• Automotive aluminum accounts for 5 to 10 percent of scrapped automobiles by weight, but represents 30 to 50 percent of its scrap value
• Recycling the aluminum currently in use would equal 15 years’ primary output
• 73 percent of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today.
• Since 1888, about 800 million tons of aluminum has been produced and about 580 million tons of this amount is still in use