Alcoa is committed to decreasing its reliance on fossil fuels by increasing the use of natural, renewable energy sources that help lower CO2 emissions and contribute to the fight against global warming.
Since 1917, Alcoa has been committed to owning, operating, and continually improving its North American hydroelectric assets, which generate an average of 5.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year for Alcoa operating locations.
Alcoa is also actively increasing its supply of cost-effective renewable resources and supporting the Green Power Market Development Group. Between 2000 and 2002, Alcoa purchased more than 32 million kilowatt hours of electricity generated from landfill gas as part of its North American electricity supply portfolio.
In Brazil, Alcoa has been participating, as a minor partner, in the development of hydropower projects that extensive and comprehensive studies approved by the appropriate national and state environmental and development agencies show to be environmentally sound, socially responsible, and economically feasible. In Iceland, the company will be the principal customer for a new hydroelectric generation facility when its newest primary aluminum facility comes online in 2007.
In October 2003, Alcoa began purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) equivalent to 100% of the electricity used annually at four corporate offices: Alcoa Primary Metals and Alcoa Materials Management headquarters (Knoxville, Tennessee, USA), Alcoa headquarters (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA), the Alcoa Business Service Center (Pittsburgh), and Alcoa’s global office (New York City, New York, USA).
RECs are a new type of renewable energy product that consumers can buy to reduce the environmental impact of their activities. RECs represent the environmental attributes or avoided emissions when electricity is generated from renewable resources instead of from fossil-fuel sources (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas).
The RECs Alcoa is purchasing effectively mean that the four corporate centers listed above are now operating on electricity generated by projects that produce electricity from landfill gas, avoiding the emissions of more than 6.3 million kilograms (13.9 million pounds) of carbon dioxide annually. Looked at in another way, this is equivalent to the average amount of carbon dioxide that would be absorbed annually from the atmosphere by roughly 250,000 trees over the course of their lifetime.
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Green Power Market Development Group
This site, run by 12 leading corporations and the World Resources Institute, is dedicated to building corporate markets for green power.
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World Commission on Dams
Learn more about the international effort to address the controversial issues surrounding large dams.
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Alcoa in Brazil
Alcoa has a significant presence in Brazil.
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Alcoa in Iceland
Learn more about Alcoa’s expanding presence in this country.
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Alcoa in Brazil
Alcoa shares the Brazilian federal government's assessment for long-term hydroelectric development for energy and economic development in that country.
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