Is steel sustainable?

 Is steel sustainable?

Steel is available everywhere around us. But if we consider sustainability, is steel the best option...

According to many outcomes, I feel steel is a sustainable option. The main reason is that once steel gets made, we can use it forever. Even if we want to recycle it for about a hundred times, we can use it without any problem in its quality. Many other materials that use non-renewable resources may get wasted as it may get worse. But this is not the case with steel. After steel gets made, we can use it forever. We can even recover it by magnetic separation methods. 

One of the primary uses of steel in construction. Steel is very sustainable when it comes to construction. There is even a metric called a Green Buildings Rating System for this. This rates the sustainability of a particular material used for construction. Steel has an IGCC certification. IGCC stands for the International Green Construction Code. Steel has a USGBC's LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. These are a few certifications that prove the sustainability of steel in construction. 

There have been advancements in everything around us each year. Steelmakers too have been trying to do different methods to improve the making of steel. They have been trying to make steel through energy-efficient methods. They also make sure this does not affect the quality of the steel produced. They are recyclable and efficient too. Now the main concept of these materials is that they reduce various dangers that are associated while making steel. They also try to bring in low carbon-neutral buildings.

Many of us may debate about steel as it gets made of non-renewable sources. But this is not a big issue as they do not get depleted very fast. They last for quite a long time that is not common in many other non-renewable sources. Steel is one of the earth's most recycled material. They have a recycling rate of 88 percent and about millions of tons of steel gets recycled annually across the world. Carbon-di-oxide emissions can be quite a factor to say that steel is not sustainable. But various reports across the globe say that it has been reduced very well. In the last forty years, there have been about a 60 % reduction in carbon emissions. This is including both the different methods in which steel gets manufactured. Both the methods here means the electric arc furnace method and the basic oxygen steelmaking method. 

The fabrication of steel is very important too and it is becoming a very efficient day by day. This is in terms of both environmental output and also the overall process. The standards of the fabrication process have been increasing very fast and at a standard rate. For the beginner, a fabrication means creating the structure by different methods. This includes cutting, bending, and other tasks. The high-quality is replicated on-site and this lowers the overall cost of the supply chain too

All these are points that suggest that steel is sustainable and a good choice still. It may not be the same in the future but I believe it will remain the best choice at least for a decade.

Akshay harish