Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), which is made by laminating dimension lumber at right
angles, is an innovative high-performance building material that offers many positive attributes
including renewability, high structural stability, storage of carbon during the building life, good
fire resistance, possibility of material recycling and reuse. It is conceptually a sustainable and
cost effective structural timber solution that can compete with concrete in non-residential and
multi-family mid-rise building market. Therefore, there is a need to understand and quantify the
environmental attribute of this building system in the context of North American resources,
manufacturing technology, energy constraints, building types, and construction practice. This
study is to compare energy consumption of two building designs using different materials, i.e.
CLT and concrete.
