With expanded programming and educational opportunities for architects and designers, METALCON is gearing up for the Oct. 12-14 Indianapolis event.
The industry trade show comes at a time when metal products are being misrepresented in the embodied carbon discussion
In addition to an exhibit hall filled with the metal construction industry’s latest technology, innovations and products, specifiers will have access to the IMP Alliance’s Insulated Metal Panel Pavilion, which showcases the offerings of six major brands in one location.
The show-within-a-show Architect’s Experience—produced by PSMJ Resources Inc., in partnership with AEC Daily—is aimed at demonstrating how metal can help architects, designers, specifiers and engineers solve challenging architectural, structural, environmental and building performance challenges.
A full agenda of educational opportunities offers designers the opportunity to earn up to 15 AIA learning units, including up to 12 HSWs. Sessions will focus on a variety of topics including solar power, cool roofs, embodied carbon, digital twin technology, rainscreens, coatings, sealant and adhesives, air leakage testing and more.
Examples of sessions offered by this year’s Architect’s Experience include:
- Clif Bar – A Case Study in Incorporating Metal in Biophilic Design
- The Art of Competing with Big Firms: How Designing Next Generation Facilities Gave TBA a Competitive Advantage
- How Reducing Metals Carbon Footprint IS the Paradigm of Today’s Design and Construction Industries
- The Devil’s in the MCM Details
- Air Barriers in Metal Buildings
- Portable Roll-Formed Metal Panels vs. Preformed Metal Panels: Answers to the Questions You Never Asked
And this year’s keynote presents renowned building scientist Dr. Joseph Lstiburek on the topic, There’s No Such Thing as a Free Thermodynamic Lunch–How Changing Energy Flow Changes Everything.
Opportune Time
The timing of this year’s expo is auspicious as the metal construction industry is seeing attacks from the wood and concrete industries questioning the sustainability of metal. In viewing the material from a full life cycle standpoint, some of these claims are misleading and must be rectified.
For starters, it’s important to emphasize the fact that the American steel industry leads the world in low embodied carbon emissions steel production, and metal is the only known construction material that can be recycled and repurposed indefinitely. In fact, 60 to 80 million tons of steel scrap is recycled each year into new steel products in the U.S.
While wood is being promoted as a carbon storage hero, there is currently a lack of evidence to fully support this claim.
For example, in the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s “Emission Omissions: Carbon counting gaps in the building environment” report, the authors write, “Whereas emissions from the production of concrete and steel are well understood, accounting for emissions and sinks in the biogenic carbon cycle of wood products is complex and requires sophisticated carbon models … [Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)] studies typically do not track biogenic carbon … [This approach] ignores significant and measurable [greenhouse gas] emissions from soil disturbance and carbon losses from the conversion of old-growth primary forest.”
Further, in a BuildingGreen report, “The Urgency of Embodied Carbon and What You Can Do About It,” some scientists suggest that LCAs are significantly overestimating the benefits of wood.
They question what happens when wood is disposed of, pointing out a lack of clarity regarding how quickly wood products decay and emit methane in landfills. Further, Editorial Director Paul Melton writes, “Mass timber is a different animal from the dimensional lumber used for light framing. Laminating adhesives and long-distance truck transportation can have significant impacts.”
Unlike metal products, which are cut to order, there’s quite a bit of waste involved in harvesting wood. Consequently, the percentage of stored carbon decreases when logging residue, mill residue and transportation emissions are all taken into account.
Forging Ahead
As the Metal Construction Association heads toward its 40th anniversary next year, it is well poised to continue promoting the benefits of metal as a long-lasting, environmentally friendly and low maintenance material.
Moving forward, state and federal Buy Clean initiatives will continue driving for product specifications with lower embodied carbon emissions options and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)—both industry average and facility specific—will help architects with their metal products and systems selection.
Of significance, metal has been identified as playing a major role in the evolving sustainability movement. In a recent article titled, “The rawmaterials challenge: How the metals and mining sector will be at the core of enabling the energy transition,” the authoritative global management consultancy McKinsey & Company states, “The transition to a net zero economy will be metal-intensive.”
As such, the industry must continue reducing its carbon profile, in addition to working together as a unified front to combat the misinformed rhetoric about metal’s sustainability profile coming from other industries. This needs to involve the entire metal industry, including the steel and aluminum associations, to formulate a coordinated response. And all parties must work together to communicate the proper data and information about metal to designers and building owners to help them make more informed, eco-friendly choices.
Jeff Henry, MBA, CAE, is the executive director of the Metal Construction Association. He leads MCA’s staff in supporting industry members and elevating the use of metal in construction. For more information, go to www.metalconstruction.org.
