[Greenbuilding] wood structures best for the environment

Sacie Lambertson sacie.lambertson at gmail.com
Wed Oct 8 08:31:04 CDT 2014


George and Michael, would you care to clarify your thoughts please,
something elucidative?  Sacie

On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 10:56 PM, George Hawirko <ergodesk at gmail.com> wrote:

> A total load of BS.
>
> ------------------------------
> From: Sacie Lambertson <sacie.lambertson at gmail.com>
> Sent: ‎2014-‎10-‎06 8:35 PM
> To: Greenbuilding <Greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] wood structures best for the environment
>
> From the *very* excellent Environment Building News:
> Wood Structures Could Reduce Global Carbon by Almost a Third
>  <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/> <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/>
> <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/> <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/>
> [image: Printer-friendly version]
> <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/print/article/wood-structures-could-reduce-global-carbon-almost-third>
>
> Using sustainably harvested timber in place of concrete, steel, and brick
> would have a massive positive impact, a new study asserts.
>
> *By Paula Melton*
>  Reduction in GHG Emissions from Replacing Steel with Wood
>
> <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/sites/buildinggreen.com/files/articles/wood%20carbon%20graph.jpg>
>
>  Source: Carbon, Fossil Fuel, and Biodiversity Mitigation With Wood and
> Forests, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 33:3, 248-275
> <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2013.839386>
>  What would happen if we replaced all concrete, steel, and brick with
> wood products in new construction? A whole lot of good, suggests a new
> study from researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental
> Studies.
>
> The analysis, “Carbon, Fossil Fuel, and Biodiversity Mitigation With Wood
> and Forests
> <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10549811.2013.839386>,”
> published in the *Journal of Sustainable Forestry*, concludes that total
> replacement would result in a 14%–31% reduction in global greenhouse gas
> emissions, a 12%–19% reduction in global fossil-fuel consumption, and a
> likely increase in biodiversity.
>
> The ranges are so wide because impacts vary according to how trees are
> harvested and how efficiently the forestry products are used, the authors
> explain, pointing to cross-laminated timber as an efficient use of wood
> (see Engineering a Wood Revolution
> <http://www2.buildinggreen.com/article/engineering-wood-revolution>).
> Most of the savings in carbon would come from avoided emissions; some of
> the fossil-fuel savings would come from direct burning of scrap wood for
> energy. The impact of sequestering carbon in the wood itself—whether in a
> building or in a forest—is small by comparison.
>
> Projected increases in biodiversity would result from “active management,”
> the authors argue, explaining that more-open forest structures tend to
> support the greatest number of species. Given the fragmented state of the
> world’s forests, it may be “prudent” to manage them in a way that creates
> more diversity rather than waiting for natural processes to take back over,
> they argue, adding that “in the process of this active management, some
> trees can be harvested and utilized.”
>
> The researchers recommend that incentive programs and building codes
> should encourage the use of sustainably harvested wood in place of concrete
> and steel, and that forestry programs should account for the fact that
> carbon sequestration in forests may be “counterproductive” if it results in
> more concrete and steel production.
>
> Sacie
>
> Also an excellent piece from same source re Thermal Bridging and the huge
> heat loss therein.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
>
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20141008/4ba4a304/attachment.html>


More information about the Greenbuilding mailing list