The world may be heading toward net zero at a fast pace I’m glad to say, but the fact is progress is likely to be uneven for a while yet.
Despite huge efforts by government and business to usher in renewable energy and electrification, I expect inefficient legacy systems, processes and products will remain a challenge.
But copper is helping. According to the Copper Alliance “recent studies being carried out in Europe, America and Australia are supporting copper’s contribution towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Increasing the cross section of wires and cables, overhead railway lines and motor and transformer windings can significantly increase electrical energy efficiency. For example adding 1 extra kg of copper saves between 100 and 3,750 kgs of greenhouse gas emissions. And the energy savings achieved will, in a majority of cases, lead to lower life-cycle costs.
In other words, by increasing the diameter of a copper conductor in wire and cables, transformers and electric motors, we significantly reduce CO2 emissions and the environmental payback is many times greater than the emissions released by producing that copper.
The Copper Alliance paper goes on to look at those efficiency changes in a range of electrical equipment, including induction motors, transformers, wire and cable sizes, and even renewables and electric cars.
While this is very positive, the industry is aware of its responsibility to reduce emissions to zero by 2050 and to minimise the impact on water and the overall environmental impact.
The Australian led Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future Project is a great example of this. By assisting industry to identify pathways to reduce emissions across key areas such as Water, Material Movement, Mineral Processing, Ventilation and Discovery we work together to achieve long lasting change.
Cheers, John Fennell
Copper Alliance Paper: markres342_ 2022-05 – Copper’s contributions towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions – Print Version
