News — wood

Change in Construction Materials Could Transform Buildings Into a Global CO2 Sink Buildings can become a global CO2 sink if made out of wood instead of cement and steel. A material revolution replacing cement and steel in urban construction by wood can have double benefits for climate stabilization, a new study shows. First, it can avoid greenhouse gas emissions from cement and steel production. Second, it can turn buildings into a carbon sink as they store the CO2 taken up from the air by trees that are harvested and used as engineered timber. However, while the required amount of timber harvest...

The hottest new thing in sustainable building is, uh, wood The many, many benefits of using wood in place of concrete and steel. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, at the University of British Columbia, showing off some timber.  CIRS Architects, builders, and sustainability advocates are all abuzz over a new building material they say could substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the building sector, slash the waste, pollution, and costs associated with construction, and create a more physically, psychologically, and aesthetically healthy built environment. The material is known as, uh, wood. Trees have been used to build...