Alcoa's Environmental Breakthrough Could Change the Face of the Company

In 1886, Charles Hall invented the modern process for manufacturing aluminum in the shed behind his Ohio home. Two years later, he co-founded the Aluminum Company of America, which was later renamed to its acronym: Alcoa (NYSE: AA). While a lot has changed over the last 130 years or so, a critical part of aluminum smelting remains the same: the requirement to burn a carbon-based material in the final step.