He said the substitution of concrete and steel with wood and the long-term carbon storage in mass timber buildings make up about 75 percent of the total benefit, and the forestry end, if executed sustainably, about 25 percent. — Yale - E360
Jim Robbins talks to the experts about embodied carbon, life-cycle assessments and worries about monocultures of "industrial-type forestry".
3 Comments
The article brings up some interesting questions, but it's odd there is no mention that wood is probably already the primary building material in North American construction, given its prevalence in single family and low rise rise multi family housing. All the talk about how increased demand for wood will impact forests gives no sense of scale - how much would it change relative to the pretty large amount already used for papermaking and common lumber construction?
suggesting that wood will reduce concrete production also needs some scale comparison. i would guess a large majority of concrete is used for civil engineering works and roads. even within mass timber buildings, foundations will remain concrete.
it's good to question these assumptions that because something is 'natural' it's inherently better for the environment. there are interesting reasons to study mass timber, but part of it needs to be understanding whether it does indeed bring environmental benefits, and how large they are in comparison to typical construction.
I want to know more about forestry management ... have a bad feeling that already depleted forests will not be maintained and grown. As stated, there is already a lot of wood used in construction, and more down the road.
The Amazon rain forest is being cleared at a rate of some 15 sq. mi. per day, up 50% from only a year ago. Farmed hybridized lumber (such as hem-fir) has low structural value and is essentially a mono-culture (with all problems problems associated with that).
"Sustainability" (overlooking the obvious contradiction) in an increasing population can only be achieved by reducing consumption. Or by reducing population. Which we seem intent on doing indirectly in a number of ways.
The Hidden Life of Trees is an essential read.
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