Extensive use of aluminum throughout the aerospace and automotive industries substantially reduces vehicle weights and fuel consumption, resulting in significant reductions of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.
In harsh marine environments, special aluminum alloys provide the strength, workability and corrosion resistance required in marine applications.
Aluminum offers many advantages for building design, strength and shape.
Properties of appearance and finish such as reflective surfaces contribute to resource sustainability by enhancing energy efficiency, which helps to achieve green building standards through reduction of carbon emissions. Other building applications include windows, doors and sidings.
More than 90 percent of aluminum in buildings today is repeatedly recycled into similar products, with no loss of quality.
Increasing use of aluminum in electronics and consumer goods results in thinner, lighter and more durable products that also have desirable properties of look and finish. Major examples include appliances and cooking utensils. Aluminum is preferred by many product designers for its strength and for its contemporary aesthetic qualities.
The unique characteristics of aluminum and its alloys are useful in the fabrication of excellent-performing cost-effective machinery. They are used in electrical transmission lines, tools and parts, and many other industrial products. In addition to light weight, aluminum and its alloys offer advantages in strength and durability, cryogenic (very low temperature) behavior and heat transfer capabilities, electrical conductivity, surface characteristics and corrosion resistance.
Aluminum and its alloys have applications that address specific needs of the oil and gas industry. These include deep-water requirements for high-strength, light-weight forgings and extrusions, drill pipe and risers.
Aluminum sheet and foil are manufactured in large quantities for a variety of packaging applications, including food and beverage containers. Aluminum is among the most recyclable of all industrial materials; a major example is the ubiquitous aluminum can, almost 70 percent of which are recycled into new cans or other products in about 60 days.