[Greenbuilding] wood structures best for the environment

[Sacie Lambertson]

>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.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20141006/f308c016/attachment.html>