Steel Building Construction

Steel building metal is produced out of iron ore, which is mined from the earth and manufactured industrially. Even though it is tied to mining operations, which some ardent environmentalists argue is destructive to the planet, others advocate steel building construction as an eco-friendly manufacturing material. Since most structural steel contains approximately 80% recycled content and can be recycled many times, commercial steel buildings and consumer goods are very popular.

There are environmental pros and cons to constructing buildings of steel. On one side, iron ore (the base of steel) is mined from the earth and heated up tremendously by coal-burning plants, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by the thousands of tons. It also takes tons of fuel to transport the materials from a small number of steel building manufacturers to all the different US markets. Sounds pretty bad, right?

However, carbon steel remains the strongest and most reliable building metal, which keeps steel building construction exceedingly popular, used in 28% of all architectural building jobs. To reduce environmental impact, almost all new projects use recycled discount steel. Using scrap metal from old automobiles, refrigerators and bridges as a base, intense heat converts these raw materials into molten steel. Even the smaller Electric Arc Furnaces can produce as much as 400 tons of steel at a time through this method; therefore, operating costs are very low. Since these facilities don't require close proximity to the raw materials, they can be placed directly next to consumer markets to limit the fuel consumption associated with transport.

Steel metal buildings have a number of uses, aside from commercial, steel building construction. Do-it-yourself kits allow consumers the ability to put up their own low-cost sheds and storage spaces. Steel barns and agricultural domes are becoming more and more popular. Prefab steel homes are rapidly replacing homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, updating trailer parks and delighting affluent fans of modern and post-modern architecture. Given its easy assembly, affordability and relative eco-friendliness, steel building products are likely to proliferate, despite economic setbacks.