Energy use
At our operations, we both consume and produce energy. Our mining and mineral processing operations are energy intensive activities that depend heavily on electricity, coal, oil, diesel and gas to keep them running. At the same time, we are one of the world's leading producers of coal and of uranium for the nuclear power industry.
More than half of our energy is used to add value to the ore we produce. The remainder is used in mining and transport. We generate our own electricity as well as purchase it. Beneficiation usually requires significant energy inputs to produce useful products for consumers.
So it makes good business sense to improve the energy efficiency and reduce costs at our operations.
How we save energy
We act on many of the energy saving opportunities that we identify. But some improvements require significant capital expenditure and have long design and construction lead times. We also invest large sums in research and development with the aim of developing more energy efficient processes.
We have instituted a comprehensive programme of energy audits at our operations to identify a range of energy saving opportunities, and several of these have already been successfully implemented. And as a leading international coal supplier, we are helping to develop technology for carbon capture and storage worldwide.
In addition, we are a significant supplier of uranium oxide for the world's nuclear industry, which is a low emitter of greenhouse gases. So we are currently developing processes for product stewardship and, with other uranium producers, have formed a group to look at the implications of the entire fuel cycle.
Our target is to improve energy efficiency by five per cent over a five year period. So, we aim to reduce the energy use per tonne of product from 2003 to 2008 by five percent.
Our results
Total energy use
The total amount of energy we used increased 3.3 per cent to 266 PJ in 2007 from 4.8 per cent (257PJ) in 2006.
The increases in 2006 and 2007 are primarily due to increased production at two recent developments, Yarwun (alumina refinery) and HIsmelt® (pig iron smelter) and increased production at a number of businesses, including Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium and Pilbara Iron.
Over the past five years, there has been a 16 per cent increase in energy use from operational expansions and new developments.
In 2007, Alcan used 270 petajoules on an equity share basis. This includes a significant proportion of hydroelectric power. Two thirds of our combined electricity supply will be greenhouse friendly hydro and nuclear power going forward.