WOOD FOR GOOD
GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT There is a natural human instinct to believe that for something to be of worth, it must be hard won and in scant supply. Yet timber, which has the potential to be in bountiful supply across the world, offers a solution to one of the most troubling problems of our time – climate change. Sustainably grown wood is an endlessly renewable and natural resource. It needs little more than sunlight and rainfall in order to grow, therefore expending significantly less energy during ‘production’ than any other mainstream building material. The production of steel requires
24 times the energy needed to produce timber products and concrete can give off 140 kg CO2 per cubic metre produced. Moreover, as they grow, trees are producing the oxygen we breathe – almost three quarters of a tonne of oxygen for every cubic metre’s growth, a quality that no other material can possibly develop. And moreover trees absorb CO2 as they grow, meaning that wood is carbon neutral. In fact, because of the carbon sink effect, wood from sustainably managed forests is carbon positive. For example, Europe’s forests provide a carbon sink for 150Gtonnes of carbon dioxide. In the UK, if we were to increase our forest cover by just four percent, from 12 percent to 16, then by 2050 we could abate up to 10 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions. So far so good, but the idea that
chopping trees down can actually be good for the environment is counterintuitive. Protecting trees is the milieu of the environmentalist. Chopping them down is a space occupied by the ruthless capitalist. If trees have such a positive effect, then surely the timber industry, whose business is chopping trees down, has a negative effect? The reverse is true though. Just as younger people are more physically fit, younger trees are more physically adept at processing carbon. Sustainable forestry - and 83 percent of the timber used in the UK is from certified sustainable sources - ensures that the process of CO2 absorption and oxygen emission is maximised. Each tree is harvested at the peak of its cycle, and replaced with three younger, more carbon efficient trees, before its ability to absorb and emit declines.
Even if timber is not grown in
the country in which it will eventually be used, timber still remains a more sustainable option than other materials. Promoting commercial forestry helps safeguard forested areas from destruction for development or farming. Moreover, an independent study commissioned by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), found that the carbon sequestration during each tree’s growth more than offsets the total combined emissions from harvesting, processing and
transporting timber to the EU from the America. Small wonder then that the environmental benefits of sustainable forestry, and an increased market for timber, have been consistently proven in independent studies and trials to be at the heart of strategies to lessen the impact of climate change.
THE SILENT BENEFACTOR While trees are hugely beneficial to the environment during their growth cycle, their usefulness does not end when they are felled. Wood also has the best thermal
insulation properties of any mainstream construction material; five times better than concrete, 10 times better than brick and 350 times better than steel. This is because wood’s low thermal mass means that it has very limited ability to conduct either heat or cold, meaning that using timber in buildings makes them more easily able to retain heat.
CARVING THE AGENDA: THE AIMS OF THE WOOD FOR GOOD CAMPAIGN Timber, as one of the most sensible and sustainable ways
The Wood for Good campaign seeks to place the UK timber industry in the vanguard of the battle against climate change.
ArchitectNews.co.uk | Architects Choice | 17
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