Copper wire is such a widely used and popular material that investors have begun to set their watches by it. What do we mean by that? Simply, the price of copper has become an indicator of overall economic health. If copper is doing well in the marketplace, then investors have some security that the rest of the marketplace is also healthy and doing well. When copper prices fall, investors start to worry that other materials and commodities on the market aren’t far behind.

Investors have become so reliant upon copper prices and trading that they developed a nickname for the practice of watching copper prices. They dubbed it Dr. Copper. It is a silly name for a very serious position in our marketplace that is held by a copper wire.

Of course, the varied uses of copper have also caused the metal a few issues recently. Copper was once a very common metal that was cheap to use in building materials, specifically pipes. Even industrial sized buildings could afford copper pipes, but they were most common in old churches and residential homes. Today, copper is harder to find, but still in great demand by industry. The result, many of these homes and older buildings are having the copper pipes, particularly the outdoor drainage pipes stolen.

So, what are the primary uses of copper today?

Four Industries that Utilize Copper
Four main industries utilize copper wire. It is utilized mostly in electrical work, followed by construction, then transportation, and just 3% of copper is used for other purposes. An industry organization, the Copper Development Association, releases detailed information on copper and where it is being used around the world. This entity tracks prices and provides observations on the copper market, mostly in the United States.

Overall, the Copper Development Association estimates that 65% of all copper is now used in the electrical industry for various purposes. According to the organization's best information, another 27% of copper is utilized in construction.

Copper as an Electrical Conductor
Copper is one of the best electrical conductors in the world. In fact, they can transport electricity better than any material other than silver. No wonder copper wire is being utilized so heavily in electrical equipment and machinery. Other properties of copper that make it great for electrical wiring and electrical use include that they are malleable and corrosion resistant.

In the United States, nearly all-electrical wiring, from what is in your home to industrial building or high-rise hotel, is made of copper. It is also the primary wire within several pieces of equipment that we rely upon to power our everyday life, including transforms and busbars. However, the uses for copper as an electrical conductor do not end with what is on our walls and power stations. Copper is also incorporated into some of the most widely distributed machines and appliances. It is part of televisions, cell phones, and portable electronic devices. It is necessary for microchips, semiconductors, and printed circuit boards.

A Metal on the Rise
One field that heavily relies on wiring made of copper is the telecommunications industry. Copper has become the standard material to use for ADSL and HDSL wiring. These are the wires that create local area networks (LAN) and create Internet lines. As the Internet and online industry have become central to our modern lifestyle, copper has played a major role in our modern society. In addition to the ADSL and HDSL wires in these LAN networks, copper is also the primary material used in modems and routers.

This old school material has withstood the test of many technological innovations and creations that tried to replace copper as a central wiring tool in telecommunications, but thus far no one has found a more reliable and easily used material.

Copper has become a central material for another modern day industry, renewable energy. It is being used as the preferred wire to power both wind turbines and solar panels. There is a considerable amount of copper, and other metals, running through wind turbines to move the wind power from turbine to a battery or grid. As well, copper has a similar function in the photovoltaic cells that make up solar panels.

How Other Industries Use Copper
When copper is not shaped into the wiring for electrical purposes, it is still employed for a myriad of other reasons. It can be easily soldered and shaped but does not corrode or rust, which makes it a great material for the construction industry. It is utilized in heat exchanger tubes within power stations and chemical plants, seawater feed lines, and at distillation plants in the piping.

Copper is also used for more mundane purposes in construction. It can be found as sheets on countertops and employed for other decorative purposes. A few of the places you might find copper in your own home include on door handles, knobs, tables, faucets, hinges, and other bathroom fixtures. The popularity of industrial-style interior design, within warehouse spaces and converted buildings, has increased copper’s popularity as a design element and material.

In the Market for Copper?
If you are in the market for copper wire, you should look no further than the wire specialists at EWCS. You can find our high-quality wiring for sale at www.ewscwire.com