BRAZILIAN ALUMINUM - solutions for sustainable living

BRAZILIAN ALUMINUM SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING 40 ALUMINUM AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING SOLUTIONS 4.5. The metal for mobility Aluminum is usually recalled as being themetal that hasmademodern commercial aviation possible. What just a few people know is that it was already used in aviation before planes were invented. It was the case of airships, the most famous of them being the Zeppelin, which was equipped with an aluminum-alloy structure. And aluminum’s usefulness is never ending, as shown by the Rover Curiosity , a robotic vehicle, the size of an average car, that contains aluminum even in its special wheels designed to get around the planet Mars. Rover Curiosity was designed, produced and transported by NASA in 2012 to carry out research on the planet’s surface. Artistic concept for one of Mars’ exploiting vehicles placed on the surface of that red planet. Accomplishing mobility is one of today’s major milestones in modern civilization, allowing access to assets and opportunities. However, mobility also poses a few challenges. One of them is how transports have directly added to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. These days, governments, businesses and hundreds of organizations in civil society are seeking solutions that strengthen the so-desired mobility, while shrinking the impacts on climate and the environment. Such is the case of the standards provided for in fuel consumption and vehicular emission acts such as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) in the USA and the Regulation no. 443/2009 of the European Community setting up CO 2 emission targets of 95 grams per kilometer for new cars by 2021. In Brazil, specialized advisory firms have projected that that value is around 130 grams/km. The New Energy Finance published by Bloomberg estimates that by 2024, close to 40% of vehicles will be electric ones. How acceptable will the autonomous vehicles be, mainly the hybrid and electric ones undergoing testing, that have somewhat had a share in brand-new auto sales? How about the performance of automakers that have redefined themselves as suppliers of mobility solutions, which are partnering up with car-sharing application companies? ©NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell.