Part 1: Architect’s Guide 1 - 60 7.1 Life cycle Steel is an excellent solution for conserving raw materials, thanks to its recyclability. It can be infinitely recycled without losing its properties. Today, the production of steel in Europe consists of 50% recycled metal, reducing the need for ore; for certain products intended for construction, this rate can reach up to 98%. This re-use of the material is in particular made possible by its magnetic properties facilitating the sorting. For 25 years, the control of energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions during production have led to vast improvements in developing new steel materials and taking into account life cycle of materials and products. The European steel industry has substantially contributed to the energy efficiency and the reduction in CO2 emissions. Between 1970 and 2005, the European steel industry reduced CO2 emissions by 60%; between 1990 and 2005, this reduction was 21% (source Eurofer). In the same period, crude steel production increased by 11.5% (source Worldsteel for EU15). Other solutions are already underway to improve these results. Steel is a neutral material which emits no polluting substance or element that is harmful to the environment or health, even under the influence of corrosion. Galvanizing and painting (carried out in the factory) are corrosion protection systems that guarantee the durability of steel up to 25 years. Maintenance of steel is limited to regular follow-up and periodic painting. 7.2 Advantages of steel products for construction An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is now a widely developed approach for construction products. Based on ISO 21930[2] the overall goal of an EPD is to provide relevant, verified and comparable information to meet various customer and market needs. Using life cycle assessments, the steel industry has already provided several EPD for generic products as well as branded systems. The energy and lighting consumption during service life exceeds the embodied energy in the structure. Thanks to the efficient use of materials, steel construction minimizes waste in manufacture and on-site, because all steel off-cuts and drills are sent for recycling into new steel components. Typically, the average steel wastage and re-use is about 2%, in comparison with the European average of 10% for all the products used on-site. The excellent weight-resistance ratio of the material offers incomparable constructive and architectural possibilities. This performance opens the way to the reducing the weight in buildings, using thin walled structures in the façade. These features offer a large amount of space with light and vast possibilities for architectural integration.
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