Prefabricated engineered solid wood panel construction systems can sequester and store CO2. Modular cross-laminated timber (CLT, also called cross-lam) panels form the basis of low-carbon, engineered construction systems using solid wood panels that can be used to...
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
Summary
According to the predictions of United Nations (2017) there are more than 7 billion people on Earth and this number will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Today, most of the population lives in the urban areas and the rapid growth entails more construction in a housing sector. Since the industrial revolution the world has experienced countless technological attainments and on the other hand risky increase in natural resources use, energy consumption, greenhouse gases emission, ozone depletion, toxification and global temperature rising. The question how the cities can respond to urban growth is related to the sustainable goals of Agenda 2030. This research discusses potential of the usage of timber as construction material and it also brings the answer to this question. The wood is 100% renewable, recyclable and nontoxic material with capacity to absorb CO2 and perform low embodied energy. The increase of timber use in the construction contributes to sustainable development and to the reduction of waste, CO2 emission, as well as energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to discuss the advantages of using timber as a sustainable solution in urban context, in comparison with most commonly used concrete. The findings demonstrate the value of timber as sustainable construction material.
The goal of this work was to develop material quantity estimates of a typical mid-rise office building in the Pacific Northwest and to deliver the results to the Forestry Research Team in the University of Washington (UW) College of the Environment School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. The Forestry Research Team will then use these results to develop regionally specific life cycle inventory data to support the greater study funded by the 2015 McIntire-Stennis Research Grant, which is “to assist small and medium-sized wood products companies and Native American tribal enterprises to understand and adapt to changing market conditions” (http://depts.washington.edu/sefsifr/2015-mcintire-stennis-grantwinners/).
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
Summary
Cross laminated timber (CLT) has recently increased in use as a building material for low carbon design and is often applied in small and multi-story buildings. Several studies have shown lower fossil related greenhouse gas emission than alternatives, but the life cycle emissions vary substantially between different CLT producers. These emissions are mainly indirect and thus climate change mitigation could reduce these emissions. Previous research shows that that biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are technologies that have the potential to reduce the climate impacts of the CLT life cycle. This study assesses the impacts on climate change from CLT with these technologies within the framework of environmental product declarations (EPD). In the short run, switching to fossil free fuels provides a reduction in the carbon footprint of CLT. In the long run, CCS at the end-of-life of CLT buildings can provide a net negative carbon footprint over the life cycle. This assessment on the use of CLT is mainly related to the Sustainable Development Goal SDG9 Industries, innovation and infrastructure and the indicator for CO2 emissions per value added, so the assessment in this paper is mainly focused on this goal. SDG7 on affordable and clean energy and SDG15 Life on land are also relevant.
Project contact is Pierre Blanchet at Université Laval
Summary
The work of Lessard et al. (2017) demonstrated that the building envelope was an important system in the building in terms of environmental impact, but only took into account the external components of the building envelope. This project will perform a life cycle analysis of the main building envelopes for a typical building under commercial construction. By relying on our design partners, the main systems and associated materials will be analyzed in a cradle-to-grave approach. It is desirable to identify hot spots and to indicate avenues for product development in order to reduce the envelope's environmental footprint. Among the scenarios to be considered: light framework, CLT, curtain walls and all their possible variants, but also commonly used non-biobased systems. The comparison between the systems studied will be based on an equivalent energy efficiency performance.
EBD was first developed by the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute. An EBD is a summary report of the comprehensive environmental footprint data for a building and declares life-cycle impacts according to a standardized format. It is a statement of pe...
