‘Aluminum is the metal of the future. This metal of the twenty-first century will be used for making cars, computers, airplanes, and various gadgets as soon as 2020,’ Dr. Michio Kaku, a U.S.-based physicist announced in the course of a conference referred to as Siberia’s Aluminum in Krasnoyarsk. The conference was coordinated by United Company RUSAL.

Dr. Kaku is positive that the demand for aluminum is bound to increase over the next one hundred years. ‘Firstly, millions of people in, say, China and India, are becoming middle class at the moment, and they are going to need a lot more things made from aluminum than before. Secondly, global warming will make people think up new kinds of fuel sooner or later. Thirdly, computer networks will become wide-spread on a global scale, which means more and more aluminum will be needed. Then, aluminum is essential for the development of space technology. Finally, the construction industry will ask for more metal as well. According to the United Nations, over 50% of the world’s population switched to urban lifestyles by now.’

Dr. Michio Kaku is an internationally recognized expert in the field of environmental innovations and conservation; his articles were published in the world’s leading scientific journals. He arrived in Krasnoyarsk at the invitation of UC RUSAL to give a lecture on the future. This is his first visit to Russia; in this country, he is mainly familiar to a relatively narrow circle of physicists, futurologists, and scientific researchers.