Sustainability of steel- Blog 3
I am very much excited to write about the sustainability of
steel as it is the one of the frequent questions which arises in our mind when
we think about using steel in construction or for any other purposes.
India is a country where materials of construction like Brick and Concrete are dominating the other materials. Often I end up thinking why aren’t we using steel as a major construction material apart from using it only in industrial construction and as fixtures, aesthetical elements, minor structural elements etc. so let us see the how sustainable steel is.
In order to know about the sustainability of steel we have to look into the materiality of steel like its properties, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages etc. which define its sustainability.
Properties and characteristics of steel :
1.steel is tensile which makes it useful for parametric construction.
2.It hard and has high compression strength
3.It conducts heat and in high temperatures steel looses its properties and leading to buckling and deformation
4.It is not corrosion resistant if the material is not treated or coated properly.
Steel is a material which has a long lifetime before losing its properties due to corrosion and deformation. It can be endlessly recycled and reused for many other purposes. Steel will not go extinct like fossil fuels like coal and oil as it keeps recycling hence it’s a good renewable resource.
Since steel is mass produced as units in industries the waste produced is again converted to some other useful material. The recycled steel does not lose its original properties . Steel is one of the material whose recycling rate is high when compared to other materials in construction.These units when installed in the site reduce the waste of material produced during in-situ concrete and brick construction , reducing waste favours for its sustainability and cost efficiency.
Steel is used and fabricated in units so it takes very less time for installation on site reducing the time of construction, less pay to labours when compared to the time and wages paid to the labours in concrete construction. Thus is the overall construction is economical making it another point for sustainability.
Steel vs Wood:
Wood being a material which is constantly affected by termites , dampness , algae formation needs frequent treatment and replacement of new wood in certain areas, in this case steel is termite resistant which makes steel more long lasting and durable when compared to wood.
Is steel really sustainable?
As steel is mass produced In the factory it has to be transported to the construction sites which are far away from manufacturing industries, the time , transport and fuel required for it is more than in- situ concrete construction. Also more energy is used to manufacture steel initially.
Again after its time is over for a particular purpose in order to transport it back to recycling factories and the energy used to convert them back to useable steel is more.
Though steel fabrication is quicker it requires more skilled labour for installation which increase the labour charges for the overall construction.
The sustainability of steel has both merits and demerits. In my opinion, steel is a sustainable building material where it is widely used in construction. Whereas, places having hot and very hot climate steel is used less in regular construction due to heat absorption which will in turn lead to more energy usage in mechanical cooling and other materials are used in construction to make it cooler.
In conclusion, we cannot replace steel and concrete from where they are being used in the field of construction. We can just focus on how efficiently and effectively we use them by making sure energy consumption is as small as possible with the goal of all new buildings being carbon zero and sustainable in the future.
-Theerthana ✌
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