COMPARING SUSTAINABILITY OF STEEL AND WOOD STUDS THROUGH LIFE-CYCLE STRESSOR-EFFECTS ASSESSMENT (LCSEA)

摘要

Sustainability is the ultimate environmental claim for green marketing, as exemplified by light gauge steel studs and wood studs for residential construction. Comparing sustainability is challenging because it eludes precise definition and these two materials are vastly different in origin, service, and ultimate fate. Sustainability may be claimed through life cycle inventory (LCI) or life cycle assessment (LCA) of inputs for energy and other resources, and outputs for waste and pollution. This typically ignores the structure's significant usage phase and its disposal or recycling phase. Moreover, it does not provide a framework for evaluating sustainability relative to the effects of material production and construction on our natural environment for future generations. Now however, the life-cycle stressor-effects assessment (LCSEA) methodology considers land use effects of material production on habitats and biodiversity (ecosystem disruption) as they impinge on sustainability. This paper discusses the final report of Scientific Certification Systems, Inc., "Analysis of Galvanized Steel Production Suitable for Residential Construction Based on Life-Cycle Stressor-Effects Assessment. A U.S. Case Study". Among its conclusions: the ecosystem disruption by steel production for residential steel studs is less than one percent of equivalent wood stud production. This demonstrates steel's contribution to sustainable construction for future generations.