How to Make Steel Buildings More Energy Efficient

Steel buildings are a green choice. They’re energy efficient in many ways. The materials for steel buildings are nearly always 100 percent recycled and recyclable, reducing the strain on the Earth’s natural resources. Pre-fabricated and pre-engineered steel buildings are also produced more efficiently than wood and masonry buildings, and because they’re all delivered in one shipment, they also put less of a strain on the Earth in the delivery process. All in all, steel buildings are already the ecologically sound choice when you’re putting up a new building.

However, there are a number of things you can do to make steel buildings even more energy efficient and Earth-friendly than they already are.

Insulate Your Metal Building

Uninsulated steel may be weather tight, but it has a high rate of heat transfer or conductivity. Whether you live in a climate that gets exceptionally hot or exceptionally cold, you’ll want to invest in good insulation for your steel building. Many steel buildings are designed to make installation of insulation as easy as putting panels into place before closing up the interior walls. Keep in mind that metal buildings without insulation are more prone to trapping moisture and vapor, so insulating your steel building serves more than one purpose. With proper insulation, steel buildings are far more energy efficient, saving you money by reducing the energy used for heating and cooling.

Use Renewable Energy

Steel buildings offer the ideal platform for renewable energy systems. Solar panels can be easily mounted on the roof. If you prefer, you can use solar thermal energy to heat water and heat the building at the same time. By choosing renewable systems for your energy use, you can reduce your utility costs by as much as 50 percent.

Choose an Energy Efficient Roof

The roof you choose for your steel building can make a very big difference in the amount of energy needed to keep your building’s temperature comfortable. Most metal building suppliers offer a number of different qualities of energy efficient roofs from which you can choose. If you live in an area where the temperatures are generally high and your major utility expense is for cooling, choose a light-colored reflective roof to minimize your energy costs. If you live in a region where the winters are cold and there’s significant snowfall, choose a dark roof which will absorb and retain heat and contribute to snow melt.

In addition to these fairly standard ways of increasing the energy efficiency of steel buildings, keep your eyes peeled for new developments. Over the next few years, for example, technological advances in solar power may bring solar paint to the market, making it possible to paint steel buildings with color that will also supply renewable solar energy to power your appliances and lights.