Recently, the Resource, Environment, and Policy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council released a report in Beijing titled "China's Copper and Aluminum Resources in Chinapower cableThe report "Market Application Strategy Planning Research" believes that from the perspective of energy conservation and environmental protection, aluminum and aluminum alloy cables are not more energy-efficient than copper cables, and it is not appropriate for China's power cable industry to promote the slogan of "replacing copper with aluminum".

The report points out that in recent years, the application of aluminum alloy cables in the power cable industry has been hyped up, and the substitution of copper and aluminum is rampant. To a large extent, it is due to some false advertising that leads to customers being misled. For example, some companies claim that aluminum and aluminum alloy cables are energy-saving cables that are more energy-efficient than copper cables in terms of energy conservation and environmental protection. According to a research report by the Copper Industry Association, based on the calculation and analysis of unit energy consumption in metal production, the unit energy consumption of primary aluminum is 2.2 times that of cathode copper; From the analysis of factors such as comprehensive current carrying capacity, the energy consumption of 1 ton of primary aluminum is still about 10% higher than that of 2 tons of cathode copper; According to industry technological progress and development planning calculations and analysis, by 2015, the unit energy consumption of primary aluminum was about 2.8 times that of cathode copper, and the energy consumption of 1 ton of primary aluminum was about 39% higher than that of 2 tons of cathode copper. According to a research report by the China Institute of Standardization, aluminum cables have a 4% higher adverse environmental impact than copper cables throughout their entire lifecycle, including raw material acquisition, cable manufacturing, transportation, use, and recycling.

In addition, the report also points out that copper cables have better environmental performance than aluminum cables, both in the primary metal material stage and considering the entire life cycle. Under the same conditions, the conductivity of copper is significantly better than that of aluminum, and even better than aluminum alloys. Therefore, in the application stage, the end users of the product should select the best based on comprehensive technical, economic, and safe operation requirements.