To be an MVP, you have to not only be the best player – you have to make the rest of the players around you better too. StoneLite® panels are the best players in the construction game when it comes to making the most use of stone as a resource. Compared to traditional solid stone, StoneLite® use only about a quarter of the amount of stone. Quarrying and transporting traditional solid stone requires a great deal of time, energy and resources. So needing to harvest significantly less stone saves time, energy and resources. It also leaves more natural stone intact for future use.
But all of this only addresses how wall panel stone gets the best and most out of stone. A number of other building materials support the stone products that are used on a structure – including steel and concrete. At less than four pounds per square foot and an allowable deflection of more than L/120, wall panel stone requires less structural steel and concrete back-up. The need for less structural steel and less concrete reduces energy required for manufacturing and transporting these materials. This means that, ultimately, fewer natural resources are required.
What Wall Panel Stone\’s Effect Means for Designers and Engineers
While individual construction materials can be evaluated for their impact on the environment and sustainability, their impact on other associated materials within the building structure also carries its own implications. Because of the lightweight nature of StoneLite® stone panels, it is possible for designers and engineers to take their lightweight nature into account when calculating the overall loading on any given building. Substantial reductions in the structure and foundations of a building are possible and this can have profound effects on the amount of steel and concrete required. This, in turn, makes it possible to reduce a building’s environmental impact when taking into account the energy consumption involved in the production and manufacturing of those materials.
