Steel Can Be a Great Green Building Material

Posted by: YijunW

As the green building market expands, architects, builders, engineers and others are looking for ideal materials to construct sustainable and long-lasting buildings, steel surprisingly can be a great green building material. Here is why:

1. Steel is 100 percent recyclable. At any point, if the steel building has to be removed, it can be entirely taken out and recycled. Unlike other building materials, steel means it leads to zero landfills or zero trash. Furthermore, steel milling uses little water and does not produce any toxic fumes. Of the water in steel production, 98 percent can be reused.

2. Steel can be re-used as a structural material. The Maine Audubon Butterfly House, a 500-meter square building has been framed with 45 tons of recycled tube. Steel was removed, cleaned, potentially cut, refinished, stored, and transported (Architects Journal).

3. Steel reduces long-term energy cost. Alex Amato of the United Kingdom’s Steel Construction Institute estimates that primary steel manufacture requires 25.5GJ/T while recycled steel manufacture requires only an average of 18.9GJ/T.

4. Steel buildings are affordable. One challenge to the growth of green buildings is the fear of high up-front costs, but steel provides a great solution with cost-effective pricing. Steel can also be manufactured with the exact dimensions to a specific demand and requires low to no maintenance.

To read more, please visit:
Blue and Green Tomorrow
https://bit.ly/2yaMWCk
Architects Journal
https://bit.ly/2JL5ydv
Armstrong Steel
http://armstrongsteel.com/complete-steel-buildings-guide/