When the weight of vehicles is reduced, so is energy consumption during transport.
These are some of the transportation means where aluminium helps reduce weight:
- Cars
- Buses
- Trucks
- Planes
- Trains
- Ships
Each 100 kg of weight saved by using aluminium in a family car amounts to a reduction in fuel consumption of 800 liters (over average lifetime of the car)
There is a great number of cars in the world. This makes low weight in cars the greatest global saving potential.
A car with 40 percent recycled aluminium has a lifetime energy saving of 680 liters of gasoline and a lifetime emission saving of 1,950 kilograms of CO2.
Aluminium is already extensively used in airplanes. A weight reduction of 1 kg in an aircraft has 1,000 times the effect as in an average passenger car.
If we were to replace the current fleet of cars with new (and lighter) vehicles from existing models, this would reduce the world's fuel consumption from cars by 7.5 percent. If we continue exploring the potentials for weight reduction in cars, this could reduce this number by another 3.1 percent.
On a global scale, including the potential in all transport sectors, this adds up to possible savings of Norway’s annual greenhouse emission times a factor of four!
Up to 40 percent of a car’s body weight can be reduced by extensive use of aluminium – without compromising strength. This would reduce fuel consumption by 10 percent. Some of these cars are already on the market.
