> Right. Like I said, to produce aluminum requires huge energy resources and the result is a very large carbon footprint. That's just based on the equipment used for mining it alone
The production of aluminium needs a lot of energy. The good thing is that metals recycle forever. Broken carbon or the cutting waste of the prepreg can not be recycled because most of the stuff on the process goes to waste.
Also it's good that the energy sources are changing at the moment rapidly. China is building more solar, wind and nuclear power and those things are making the aluminium more ecologically friendly.
All mining is not good for the planet but we need metals to build new stuff as well. As the population of the world increases we really don't have any choice at the moment but produce more materials to build more infrastructure. Metals are good materials because you can turn obsolete products to new products to match the current state of the art. Aluminium mining is one of the cleanest mines because it does not bring that much of heavy metals to the surface.
> Not to mention the process of producing it and the chemicals and waste in machining it.
We don't need cutting fluid on machining the parts.
> How much gets recycled?
99,9%
> But let's not buy into the notion that aluminum is somehow an environmental saviour. Because its not.
Well you are right here. We are not saving the planet by making bikes from aluminium. We never said that. We are fed up of the status quo that everything we use is made in China. China is willing to make shortcuts to make more profit as the big companies who produce stuff in the cheap labor countries. CF process is very labor intensive and the CF factories are already moving to cheaper labor countries (Vietnam, Myanmar) as Chinese are increasing their life standards.
We think that people should not work in unhealthy conditions or in factories. That's why we put our effort in automation, AI and robotics. We are more happy to produce bikes that are better for environment and people.
Jan. 8, 2018, 11:22 p.m. - Leo Kokkonen
> Right. Like I said, to produce aluminum requires huge energy resources and the result is a very large carbon footprint. That's just based on the equipment used for mining it alone The production of aluminium needs a lot of energy. The good thing is that metals recycle forever. Broken carbon or the cutting waste of the prepreg can not be recycled because most of the stuff on the process goes to waste. Also it's good that the energy sources are changing at the moment rapidly. China is building more solar, wind and nuclear power and those things are making the aluminium more ecologically friendly. All mining is not good for the planet but we need metals to build new stuff as well. As the population of the world increases we really don't have any choice at the moment but produce more materials to build more infrastructure. Metals are good materials because you can turn obsolete products to new products to match the current state of the art. Aluminium mining is one of the cleanest mines because it does not bring that much of heavy metals to the surface. > Not to mention the process of producing it and the chemicals and waste in machining it. We don't need cutting fluid on machining the parts. > How much gets recycled? 99,9% > But let's not buy into the notion that aluminum is somehow an environmental saviour. Because its not. Well you are right here. We are not saving the planet by making bikes from aluminium. We never said that. We are fed up of the status quo that everything we use is made in China. China is willing to make shortcuts to make more profit as the big companies who produce stuff in the cheap labor countries. CF process is very labor intensive and the CF factories are already moving to cheaper labor countries (Vietnam, Myanmar) as Chinese are increasing their life standards. We think that people should not work in unhealthy conditions or in factories. That's why we put our effort in automation, AI and robotics. We are more happy to produce bikes that are better for environment and people.