Lower Carbon Emissions with Recycled Steel Garage Doors

Garage doors add to the sustainability story at the VISION House Las Vegas.

When Beazer Homes and Green Builder Media started their collaboration on VISION House Las Vegas: Crossing the Rubicon, they knew that every detail in the project needed to contribute to move the needle to lower the carbon footprint of the homes. Windsor America stepped up with their garage doors, which are made with 99% recycled steel. 

While steel production accounts for approximately 7% of global CO2 emissions, the material’s ability to be recycled and repurposed can offset some of its negative impact, says Hans Wright, CEO of Windsor America, manufacturers of Windsor Doors.

“The garage doors at VISION House Las Vegas have a natural sustainability story behind it,” Wright says. “Steel can be recycled without losing its integrity. We make our garage doors with recycled steel scraps and then at the end of the garage doors’ lifecycle they can be repurposed and recycled again.”

Windsor’s commitment to sustainability led them to participate in the VISION House Las Vegas project, which includes two model homes at the master planned community of Cadence in Henderson just outside of Las Vegas. In addition, a deconstructed model will be onsite for builders, contractors and buyers to see what’s behind the walls in Beazer’s READY homes. These homes and all future Beazer homes will meet the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home™ requirements.

“The clout of Beazer Homes as a large national and well-respected builder proves that the green building movement is real and can be done on a large scale,” Wright says. 

Production Adjustments to Meet Green Goals

Windsor America transitioned their production to use an electric air furnace, which has eight times lower emissions compared to a blast furnace. 

“We made a major investment of $21 million in automated high speed production that increased the quality of our products,” Wright says. “Our goal was to see a 20% reduction in scrap steel within two years, but we hit that target in one year. Now we’ve set a goal to reduce our scrap steel by 10% more withing another year.”

In addition to the carbon emissions reduction through manufacturing improvements, Windsor has been able to maintain price stability, Wright says. 

At the same time, Windsor has a robust carbon offsets program to compensate for the emissions generated by steel production. The company’s goal is for two-thirds of the steel Windsor uses to have carbon offsets by 2026. 

In addition, Windsor sources all their steel for recycling within a 400-mile radius of their manufacturing plant to minimize transportation-related inputs to their carbon footprint. 

While the VISION House Las Vegas will have a steel door, Windsor also makes custom garage doors with sustainable manufactured wood. 

“About a decade ago we replaced the cedar plywood we had been using with manufactured wood, which increased the lifespan of the door by three times,” Wright says. “There’s a demand for sustainable products that do the right thing for the environment, last longer and provide a better option for homeowners.”