Stretching Natural Resources— and Church Resources— with Steel
Building green churches means choosing construction materials with the smallest environmental impact. Steel building is the environmental champion of green building methods.
“Steel as the primary structural building material, with its inherent recyclable nature and its efficiency of assembly, is the logical and responsible choice for Green Building,” according to the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) sponsors a voluntary program certifying green building projects. Using a point system, LEED rates building projects at different levels of “green.” Based on its high-recycled content, steel earns an automatic minimum default score. Steel is the only building material in the LEED program so designated.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle with Steel
Environmentalists focus on conserving resources three ways: reducing, reusing, and recycling.
REDUCE: Choosing a pre-engineered steel building system for church projects reduces raw materials. Steel’s unmatched strength-to-weight ratio allows a stronger structure with far less building materials than other types of construction. For example, wood construction places vertical framing members 16 to 24 inches apart. In a pre-engineered steel system, vertical steel columns are typically spaced at 25-foot intervals.
Steel buildings last decades longer than other structures. Replacing the structure less often reduces the environmental impact.
REUSE: Taking an existing item and using it for another purpose stretches the usefulness of the product.
Steel buildings are so versatile, they are ideal for numerous purposes. If the future requires your church to move, selling your property becomes easier with steel buildings. The church building might house another religious facility. However, it may also be easily renovated for some commercial use, if zoning permits.
When the building reaches the end of its lifecycle, the steel framing recycles again into more steel products.
RECYCLE: Steel is the most recycled substance on Earth. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), over 80 million tons of steel are recycled in the U.S. each year.
Annual steel recycling saves enough energy to power 18 million homes for one year, according to the Steel Recycling Institute.
Repeated recycling never reduces steel’s strength.
Recycling steel is not only environmentally cheaper, but also monetarily cheaper than creating steel from virgin materials. That is why the steel industry in North America has been recycling steel for over 150 years.
Environmental Stewardship Starts with Building Sustainable Churches
RHINO steel buildings ship all across North America. Every order is guaranteed to meet or exceed all local building codes for the lifetime of the structure. We also strive to meet or exceed all our customers’ expectations.
Call today for helpful suggestions, free information, or a no obligation quote. The RHINO hot line is 940.383.9566. Build your next church project with the strength of steel with RHINO.