Growing demand for smart thermostats, wind turbines and other high-tech devices is expected to keep copper the dominant material used in electrical components, industry players said, offsetting rising use of aluminum, a cheaper alternative to conduct electricity.

That bodes well for the likes of Chilean producer Codelco, Rio Tinto Plc and other major copper miners, who are investing billions of dollars to bring new supplies of the metal online during the next 20 years.

Copper is used to make motors, batteries, wiring and other goods as it is the best electrical-conducting metal, after silver. Aluminum, which is lighter and cheaper than copper, shares some of these traits, but is more corrosive and brittle than its red rival and only about 60 percent as conductive.

"Copper is going to be central to the green revolution," Charlie Durant, a CRU analyst, said at the World Copper Conference this week in Santiago.

So-called smart-home systems – such as Alphabet Inc's Nest thermostat and Amazon.com Inc's Alexa personal assistant – will consume about 1.5 million tonnes of copper by 2030, up from 38,000 tonnes today, according to data from consultancy BSRIA.

"We'll need more copper to meet that demand," Anette Meyer Holley, a BSRIA consultant, said at the conference.

Most smart homes, for instance, use 1,000 meters (0.62 miles) of wiring to connect those devices, containing about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of copper in total, BSRIA estimates.

Electric vehicles, which use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines, are seen as a major growth area as well, not just for the sheer number of cars expected to be produced, but also battery chemistry.

Attempts to replace copper in a lithium-ion battery's anode with aluminum have failed so far, because lithium reacts with aluminum and corrodes.