Inventory for copper production with regard to final energies

Ordered by the Deutsches Kupfer-lnstitut the Institute of Non-ferrous Proce ss Metallurgy of the RWTH-Aachen treated the inventory of a life cycle asse ssment copper materials in the rime between march 1992 and December 1993, S ince finishing and publishing this study in summer 1995 it became clear tha t by giving only primary energy demands of processes no concrete energetic information about the technology itself is possible because they are decisi vely influenced by the kind of energy supply, Interpretation of processes t herefore is only possible by knowing the corresponding final energy which m eans the reel energy demand of a production plant divided up into the diffe rent energy carriers, The present inventory for copper production and manuf acturing represents a scientific basis in the field of eco-balancing. The c omparision of primary and final energy demand firstly shows the complexity of such an inventory but also the risk of misinterpretation. So only expert s with precise knowledge of a production plant can make conclusions.