AISC Develops Updated Environmental Product Declarations For Steel Products

Chicago, IL - The domestic structural steel industry has issued updated environmental product declarations (EPDs) to help designers and building owners design more environmentally friendly buildings and bridges.

The American Institute of Steel Construction develops industry-average EPDs for three products: fabricated hot-rolled structural sections, fabricated steel plate, and fabricated hollow structural sections (HSS), with the latter developed in conjunction with the Steel Tube Institute.

These documents are designed to facilitate an accurate, apples-to-apples comparison of the structural materials on the market today. The EPDs are updated every five years and can be viewed at aisc.org/epds.

"Many people associate steel with old smokestacks and air pollution, but structural steel is now the premier green building material," said AISC President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. "Over the past three decades, the steel industry has reduced greenhouse gas and overall emissions by 36%. And the American structural steel industry is leading the way to a greener future with a carbon footprint nearly half the world average. By comparison, Chinese structural steel has three times the global warming potential of domestic steel."

America's steel mills rely on steel scrap rather than mined raw materials. Today, almost 93% of a typical wide flange member is recycled material--old cars, refrigerators, and even old buildings - melted into new steel with pure electricity. Steel is the most recycled material on the planet, and structural steel leads the way. It was noted that structural members can be recycled over and over again with no loss of quality. Learn more at aisc.org/sustainability.

As America's energy grid increasingly relies on sustainable electricity, experts expect steel's carbon footprint to shrink by 41%. Steel mills also are building sustainable power fields, installing carbon scrubbing equipment, and taking other measures to make structural steel a truly carbon-neutral building material. And AISC's member fabricators are taking steps to reduce their energy consumption, such as by adding solar roofs.

About the American Institute of Steel Construction

The American Institute of Steel Construction, headquartered in Chicago, is a not-for-profit technical institute and trade association established in 1921 to serve the structural steel design community and construction industry. AISC’s mission is to make structural steel the material of choice by being the leader in structural steel-related technical and market-building activities, including: specification and code development, research, education, technical assistance, quality certification, standardization, and market development. AISC has a long tradition of service to the steel construction industry of providing timely and reliable information. To learn more, visit www.aisc.org.