Steel Buildings Are Leading the Green Revolution in Construction Space
The discovery of metal building materials served as a major milestone, which propelled our ecofriendly building material research even further. Metals have exhibited extensive benefits over plastic based materials, out of which, steel has proved to be the epitome of building material innovation. One may think, how can metal aid in our eco-friendly efforts, as metal processing is known to cause many harmful effects on the environment? The truth is, machineries made for metal processing may be harmful in nature but the metal itself is completely harmless. Steel being an alloy and made mostly out of corrugated iron, it serves as a 100% eco-friendly building material as steel can be built using already recycled materials. Apart from that, steel offers the following environmental benefits; 1. Negligible waste: The biggest bi-product of steel is slag, a rocky-metal-ish substance. Slag can be entirely re-used in other constructions purposes today. 2. No water pollution: Metal processing consumes a lot of water. As the water gets polluted with steel particles, it can be easily purified using a filtration process, making 98% of the water available for reuse. 3. No downgrading in quality: Steel can be recycled for infinite number of times without the risk of downgrading. In other words, any type of steel can be recycled over and over again and still be used to make the highest-quality of steel. 4. Zero-Carbon emission: Steel production is completely carbon-emission free
Now that we understand the benefits of using steel from a basic environmental conservation perspective, the big question that still remains is whether or not steel buildings can take the helm of driving the green revolution in the construction landscape. For this, let’s take a look at the use of steel from a more economic and technical perspective. Steel buildings have become widely popular in metros and towns. The main reason for this is that unlike wooden and brick construction materials, steel frame based construction causes very less or negligible wastage during pre-fabrication and preparation stages, making it highly economical for all kinds of residential and commercial purposes. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of using steel; 1. Solar installation option: Solar panels come with a weight that not all building construction materials can bear. In addition to the thicker insulating capability of steel frames they are also sturdy enough to bear the weight from multiple solar panels.
2. Energy Savings: Steel is one of the strongest possible materials that can support thicker layers of insulation without compromising structural integrity. With thicker insulation, homes don’t lose as much heat or cool, as other they do with other materials. This way, you can save up to 30 % on your energy bills. 3. Low or no maintenance: During building renovations, a lot of resources and energy is expended to restore the functionality and aesthetics. Steel has a high longevity due to structural integrity, making it last through tough weathers and rough environmental effects, like corrosion due to sea salt. Colour coated steel products like COLORBOND Steel have excellent paint retention and can retain its aesthetics throughout its lifetime. 4.
Low production cost: As mentioned above, steel is mostly made from recycled elements. Up to 60% of steel content can be recycled. This, combined with recyclable water [used for processing] makes steel manufacturing very economical and eco-friendly.
5. Prefabricated steel buildings: Pre-fabricated steel buildings are factory-built steel buildings that are shipped to the site and bolted together. it is cheap, very fast to erect, and can also be dismantled and moved to another site. The general idea of it consists of rigid frames that are fabricated from plate steel. This saves a lot of construction cost and eliminates the use of extra resources
TATA BlueScope Steel is a pioneer in steel roofing solutions and is one the leading industrial shed manufacturers in India. TATA BlueScope Steel’s offering includes galvanized steel sheets, colour coated sheets and aluminium sheets. To learn more about TATA BlueScope Products or to locate dealers in India, visit the website www.tatabluescopesteel.com