Wood is Good
A Sustainable Material
Wood is the only truly sustainable material on this planet: we can grow as much timber as we need, in well-managed forests.
Energy Efficency
Studies have shown that all of wood's competitors in the construction industry - steel, concrete, plastics - are far lessenergy efficient and much more polluting than timber products.
There are many different ways of measuring “sustainability” and “energy efficiency”; but the most accepted method is Life-cycle analysis, which examines the energy needed to produce, transport, use and dispose of any material. By any measure, timber comes out ahead of the field. It takes no manmade energy input to grow; it is cheap to harvest; it requires no furnaces or other huge heat sources to convert it; and when finally recycled, it can be used as a source of fuel.
Carbon Sequestation & Carbon Neutrality
Wood also stores up CO2 during its growth cycle and its use. It has been estimated that a mature Beech tree can fix about 2 kg of CO2 per hour and give out, as a byproduct, enough Oxygen for 10 people a year!
Timber construction is also a great way to lock away Carbon for long periods. It has been calculated that a typical 3-bedroom semi-detached Timber Frame House, using about 6m3 of timber and wood-based products, stores about 1.2 tonnes of Carbon (equivalent to over 4 tonnes of atmospheric CO2 ). And it helps our planet even more, if we use trees before they become “old” (quite when a tree is considered to be “old” will depend on its species and exactly where it grows). But it is a fact that young, vigorously-growing trees sequester more Carbon more rapidly than will over-mature trees, that are reaching the end of their life.
And even when wood is eventually recycled, it releases its Carbon back into the atmosphere within a relatively short time (compared to the millennia-long sequestration, and then eventual new release of Carbon from fossil sources, such as coal and oil). So timber, being relatively newly-grown and then returned directly to nature, is in effect “Carbon Neutral”.
So if you want to 'save the planet'- use more wood!
For more facts about the fantastic properties of Wood visit www.WoodForGood.com
