Sustainability
What does it take to produce a ton of American structural steel?
- 1,860 lbs of old cars, refrigerators, decommissioned steel bridges, and other recycled scrap
- 140 lbs of additional metals to meet metallurgical requirements for a given grade
- 70 gallons of water (net consumption--95% of the water used is recycled, with no external discharges!)
- 1,358 kWh of electricity--or 13 Tesla charges
Structural Steel Mill
Overall carbon emissions have been reduced by 36% since 1990 and steel production has a water recycling rate of 95%, resulting in a net consumption of only 70 gallons per ton.
Fabrication
More than 1,700 steel fabricators in the United States supply fabricated structural steel for building and bridge projects; these fabricators purchase structural steel shapes and plates and fabricate the steel to meet the unique requirements of each project.
Construction and Erection
Steel is fabricated off site to strict tolerances and can be erected quickly in the field, meaning fewer workers on the job site, safer working conditions, shorter construction schedules and reduced emissions from construction equipment.
Building Operation
Long-span beams with open, column-free spaces attract potential occupants. In addition, steel framing can more easily be adapted for future changes in loading conditions, vertical expansion and changes in occupancy when compared to other framing systems.
Deconstruction
Beams, columns and other structural steel elements removed from a building can be re-fabricated for use in new structures without having to be melted and rolled; remaining steel elements are captured as scrap and used to create new steel products!
Scrap Collection
By weight, 81% of all steel products are recovered for recycling at the end of their life. This includes 85% of automobiles, 82% of appliances, 70% of containers, 72% of reinforcing bar and 98% of structural steel.
Scrap Processing
Steel is the most recycled material in the world, with domestic mills recycling more than 70 million tons of scrap each year. Currently, structural steel includes 92% recycled content!
See how it's done: Nucor VR tour
