{"id":12914,"date":"2024-08-15T11:52:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T09:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/post-sobre-estructuras-para-industria\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:23:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:23:58","slug":"post-sobre-estructuras-para-industria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/post-sobre-estructuras-para-industria\/","title":{"rendered":"Steel vs. concrete: which material generates less CO\u2082 in the construction of an industrial building?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When it comes to sustainability in construction, the debate between steel and concrete remains key. To understand it objectively, we analyzed data from the <em>Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)<\/em> on the CO\u2082 emissions of both materials, and applied these values to a real case: a 600 m\u00b2 industrial building with an average transport distance of 20 km to the construction site. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83d\udcca <strong>Baseline emissions data per ton of material.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Concrete:<\/strong> 265 kg CO\u2082 \/ tonne<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Steel:<\/strong> 694 kg CO\u2082 \/ ton.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first glance, steel seems more polluting. However, the comparison changes completely when the <strong>amount of material required<\/strong> and <strong>the transport to the construction site<\/strong> are taken into account. <\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-e98c9f0f wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/transport_vigas-1024x656.jpg ,https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/transport_vigas-scaled.jpg 780w, https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/transport_vigas-scaled.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 150px\" src=\"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/transport_vigas-1024x656.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"uag-image-11215\" width=\"5280\" height=\"3384\" title=\"transport_vigas\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\"><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-container uagb-block-c8780657 alignfull uagb-is-root-container\"><div class=\"uagb-container-inner-blocks-wrap\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Practical example: a beam in an industrial building<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Concrete beam (20 m long)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Volume: 4 m\u00b3<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Density: 2,3 t\/m\u00b3<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total weight: 9.2 tons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CO\u2082 emissions: 9.2 t \u00d7 265 kg CO\u2082\/t = <strong>2,438 kg CO\u2082<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Steel beam (21 m, IPE profile)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CO\u2082 emissions: 1.3 t \u00d7 694 kg CO\u2082\/t = <strong>902 kg CO\u2082<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weight: 1.3 tons<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Transport of materials<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A truck emits approximately <strong>2.5 kg of CO\u2082 per liter of fuel<\/strong> and consumes about <strong>40 liters every 100 km.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Steel:<\/strong><br\/>1 truck \u00d7 20 km \u00d7 2.5 kg CO\u2082\/l \u00d7 (40 l \/ 100 km) = <strong>100 kg CO\u2082<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Concrete:<\/strong><br\/>12 trucks \u00d7 20 km \u00d7 2.5 kg CO\u2082\/l \u00d7 (40 l \/ 100 km) = <strong>1,200 kg CO\u2082<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Total CO\u2082 emissions in the construction of the building.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Material<\/th><th>Manufacturing emissions<\/th><th>Transportation emissions<\/th><th>Total CO\u2082<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Concrete<\/td><td>2,438 kg<\/td><td>1,200 kg<\/td><td><strong>3,638 kg<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Steel<\/td><td>902 kg<\/td><td>100 kg<\/td><td><strong>1,002 kg<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"margin-top:40px\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although steel has <strong>higher emissions per ton produced<\/strong>, its <strong>lighter structural weight<\/strong> and <strong>transportation efficiency<\/strong> make it a <strong>more sustainable<\/strong> option <strong>for the overall project.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the case analyzed, <strong>a metal industrial building generates 72% less CO\u2082<\/strong> than its concrete equivalent (1,002 kg vs. 3,638 kg of CO\u2082).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, steel offers other environmental advantages:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Virtually 100% <strong>reusable and recyclable<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reduces construction time and waste generated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Allows for lighter and more efficient designs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In a nutshell<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Steel not only provides structural strength and precision, but also contributes to <strong>cleaner, faster and more sustainable<\/strong> construction.<br\/>In industrial projects, choosing steel structure is not only a technical decision, but also <strong>a commitment to reduce the actual carbon footprint of the building.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to sustainability in construction, the debate between steel and concrete remains key. To understand it objectively, we analyzed data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the CO\u2082 emissions of both materials, and applied these values to a real case: a 600 m\u00b2 industrial building with an average transport distance of 20 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-industrials"],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_pingme":["1"],"_encloseme":["1"],"rank_math_internal_links_processed":["1"],"_last_translation_edit_mode":["translation-editor"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["1"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"adv-header-id-meta":[""],"footer-sml-layout":[""],"stick-header-meta":[""],"theme-transparent-header-meta":[""],"ast-site-content-layout":["default"],"_top_nav_excluded":[""],"_cms_nav_minihome":[""],"_thumbnail_id":["11225"],"_wpml_word_count":["376"],"_uag_css_file_name":["uag-css-12914.css"],"_uag_js_file_name":["uag-js-12914.js"],"rank_math_primary_category":["42"]},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel.png",1024,1024,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel-768x768.png",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel.png",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel.png",1024,1024,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel.png",1024,1024,false],"wpca-thumb":["https:\/\/jansametal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Concretevssteel-220x150.png",220,150,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/author\/anjo\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"When it comes to sustainability in construction, the debate between steel and concrete remains key. To understand it objectively, we analyzed data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the CO\u2082 emissions of both materials, and applied these values to a real case: a 600 m\u00b2 industrial building with an average transport distance of 20&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12915,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914\/revisions\/12915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jansametal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}