A recent AISC white paper reports that the greenhouse gas emissions, measured as global warming potential, of hot-rolled structural steel sections produced in China are three times that of equivalent sections produced in the U.S. According to AISC, the clear corollary to this data is that the best decision an owner, architect, engineer or general contractor can make from a sustainability perspective is to specify a framing system using domestically produced structural steel for their next project.
The results of the study are intended to support future life-cycle assessments (LCAs). As the results are not intended to support comparative assertions, no critical review was conducted. However, it is the intention of AISC to combine these results with industry average fabrication impacts for the development of an LCA and an environmental product declaration (EPD) for “fabricated hot-rolled structural steel,” which will be reviewed for conformity to the structural steel product category rules and applicable ISO standards.
You can read the white paper, "Global Warming Potential of Chinese and Domestic Hot-Rolled Structural Steel,” to learn more. To see a full list of AISC’s white papers, visit www.aisc.org/discover.