zlacker

>>hrl+(OP)
This should be an economics piece, not an environmental piece. The author states that "one of iron’s unalterable properties is that it rusts" yet further on acknowledges the existence of stainless steel.

There's nothing wrong with reinforced concrete, but the incentives to produce long lasting buildings are not there. The cheapest bidder will generally win and their building will last the "design life" of the building, but often not much more. The simplest way to change this is to extend the design life, which would result in stainless steels or another more expensive material being used in this application.

>>brutus+J5
> The author states that "one of iron’s unalterable properties is that it rusts" yet further on acknowledges the existence of stainless

Even stainless steel rusts, just more slowly. Roughly 10-100x more slowly, judging by https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1124/ML112490377.pdf and https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8705/pdf.

>>wahern+0c
What are car mufflers made of that they resist rust so well?

>>mrfusi+sz
plain steel, I believe, but they get very hot on trips of even a few km, which drives off any resting moisture and prevents exhaust moisture from condensing for a while after the engine is stopped.

cars that make many short trips, which never give the exhaust system time to fully warm up, often have extremely compromised exhaust systems, because the moisture simply can't be driven away effectively.