The High Costs of Transporting Steel

The article “Steeling Home” (Sept. 9), about substituting steel studs for wood, omitted some figures of interest to energy conservationists.

To manufacture and transport one ton of steel studs requires nine times as many British Thermal Units of energy (oil equivalent) as the same amount of wood studs.

If we replace only 1.3% of our annual wood fiber consumption with non-renewable substitutes, U.S. energy consumption will increase by 720 million gallons of oil, and carbon dioxide emissions will increase by 7.5 million tons.

Instead we should start wisely using our renewable forests more to avoid this excess energy consumption, rather than “preserving” forests and thereby raising the price of wood.

STUART H. JONES

Claremont