CA57 - Is wood good?
Vancouver removes parking mins and is wood all it’s cracked up to be?
NEWSWORTHY
THE POLL
I’VE MISSED YOU!
Hey Subscriber!
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been gone for a while.
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The truth is I nearly burned out.
Work pressure, family growth, lack of sleep all caught up to me and I wasn’t enjoying this anymore.
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THE TOPIC
The world of carbon is complex, and this article isn’t going to help.
It’s human natural to look for easy solutions to our problems.
Why do you think infomercials are still around - because they work!
People want an easy fix for just $14.99.
But life just ain't that simple.
This is the case for the much-heralded Mass Timber movement sweeping the world.
Maybe it’s the sexy images or maybe we are just desperate for something new in architecture.
Either way, the Mass Timber market is exploding and in many ways for good reason.
Our firm recently won two Rethinking the Future Awards for Mass Timber Projects
They look good, they have a great story, and it’s new and innovative.
What’s not to like right?
As someone who has always loved wood, I’ve been in full support and still love a building the utilizes wood.
BUT - what I don’t want to do is paint with too big of a brush.
Wood and Mass Timber don’t appear to be THE solution to carbon reduction in architecture.
We can’t just replace the world with wood and all will be good and right.
In-fact there have recently been a few articles I want to draw your attention to that actually say the contrary.
About a year ago the World Resources Institute released an article challenging the Climate-friendly claims of Mass Timber construction.
Among other things the article cites supporting research that increasing demand for wood in construction will actually increase emissions due to additional deforestation.
Here are their main points of argument:
1) Most wood (and its stored carbon) is lost during production.
2) Harvesting wood is not carbon-neutral.
3) Using wood in construction will most likely increase climate warming for decades
4) Relying only on plantation forests in warm climates for mass timber might yield climate benefits from a specific hectare, but not when factoring in the growing needs for wood.
5) Mass timber would have large adverse effects on the world’s forests.
Most of this research and argument stems from the “Global Land Squeeze” which we are seeing everywhere.
Increased population and globalization is putting a squeeze on the minimal land that we have.
Housing, agriculture, forestry, and mining, are all competing for the same land.
“The world has a fixed quantity of land; people should be working hard and creatively not to expand, but rather to reduce their footprint on it.”
So what next?
Well simply put, having a climate perspective asks the right questions and seeks to minimize impact.
Is timber right on every project? No. Is it a bad material? No.
Here in BC we are blessed with rich forests and good forestry practices.
South America and Asia have vast amounts of Bamboo.
Regional products can make a difference and developing local materials is important.
The next time someone tries to sell you “the solution”
Take a step back and ask yourself.
Is this an infomercial?
THE PERSON
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The authors of that study have an agenda: to save forests. I read it and concluded "it is more dangerous to continue burning fossil fuels to make concrete and steel and to continue losing our forests to fire and disease exacerbated by climate change. The authors have their thumb on the scale, making wood construction look worse and steel and concrete look better. The appropriate answer is to use less material, whatever it is."