Energy Efficient Steel Buildings and Accessories

When people enumerate the benefits of steel buildings, they frequently miss out on one of the most important metal building advantages – they are energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. This may be in part because it seems to run counter to appearances. Most people don’t think of steel as an organic building material. In fact, there are many reasons that steel buildings are a green alternative, as well as a number of accessories and modifications you can make to a metal building to make it even more energy efficient.

Steel Is Recyclable

Steel is more recyclable than any other building material. Most residential and small agricultural steel buildings are made entirely of recycled steel, and the steel used for them will most likely be recycled yet again when the building is taken down. Unlike wood, which uses up our precious reserves of slow-growing resources, steel does not use any more of the resources that we already are using.

Steel Buildings Are Weather-tight

Custom engineering allows the components of metal buildings to fit snugly together, reducing heat transfer and improving energy efficiency. Garages and other buildings made of wood react to the weather by swelling and shrinking, which creates gaps and allows cold drafts to enter and warm air to escape, and vice versa.

But steel buildings don’t rely just upon their natural attributes for energy efficiency. There are a number of things you can do and accessories you can add to increase the energy conservation in your metal building.

Cool Roofs

The roof you choose for your steel building makes an enormous difference in how much energy it takes to heat or cool it. Certified Cool Roofs reduce the amount of energy required to heat or cool your building by reducing heat gain or heat loss from your building. Even if you can’t afford a certified cool roof, you can choose roofs with lighter, more reflective paint in warmer climates or darker roofs to hold heat in cold regions.

Thermal Blocks

Thermal blocks and insulation help reduce heat transfer between the interior and exterior of your building. Many manufacturers of metal buildings also provide insulation systems that are specifically designed to fit and work with their building models.

Solar Roofing Panels

Design the roof of your steel building to include solar roof panels to reduce your use of grid electricity generated by less earth-friendly methods. It’s easy to design your building with exactly the right roof pitch to maximize solar energy collection.

If you’re concerned about the environment, steel buildings deserve serious consideration for your next building project. They’re greener, energy efficient and recyclable, making them the obvious choice for most uses.