Tata Steel Calls for LCA Approach to Building Sustainability
03/26/2012 - Tata Steel recently took part in a presentation on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) at an Ecobuild sustainable building event in London, where Tata Steel sustainability expert John Dowling covered the steel industry view of LCA and why it is important to consider the whole life of buildings from cradle to grave.
Tata Steel recently took part in a presentation on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) at an Ecobuild sustainable building event in London, where Tata Steel sustainability expert John Dowling covered the steel industry view of LCA and why it is important to consider the whole life of buildings from cradle to grave.
“Many construction product manufacturers only look at cradle to gate LCA,” Dowling said. “This short-sighted approach neglects what will happen to a building at the end of its useful life such as the important issues of disposal, recycling, and reuse.”
Tata Steel cites a recent Building and BD magazine publication “The Whole Story” that showed that 75% of concrete is down-cycled into lesser products, such as sub-base, and 58% of timber goes to landfill. These figures compare with 99% of steel being recycled into products with the same or better characteristics and being reused.
Dowling’s presentation highlighted the benefit of a cradle-to-grave approach to LCA and how this can be used to identify areas where effort should be placed.
“Analysis of a warehouse, recently carried out as part of Tata Steel’s Target Zero project, showed that the biggest impact on the carbon footprint of the building is the floor slab and foundations,” Dowling explained. “These findings are important, as much effort in reducing the carbon footprint would otherwise be concentrated on the superstructure and envelope. By carrying out a cradle-to-grave analysis we can identify and concentrate on hot spots to increase sustainable construction.
“For manufacturers, environmental impacts and how to measure them are a major strategic issue and as designers come under increasing pressure to minimize environmental impacts they will look for manufacturers to provide consistent and robust Life Cycle Assessments. Good cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment will provide an opportunity to differentiate products and improve their commercial value.”
The European operations of Tata Steel (formerly known as Corus) comprise Europe's second- largest steel producer. With main steelmaking operations in the U.K. and the Netherlands, the company supplies steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, lifting & excavating, energy & power, and other demanding markets worldwide.
Tata Steel is one of the world’s top 10 steel producers. The combined group has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.
