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"The production of cement, one of the main ingredients in concrete, generates an estimated 5 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Trees, in contrast, captur
by thisisit 9y ago
"The production of cement, one of the main ingredients in concrete, generates an estimated 5 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Trees, in contrast, capture CO2, helping offset emissions produced by a typical building process."
If I am reading this correctly it's the trees and not timber, laminated or otherwise, which capture CO2. So what kind of advantage does timber offer in form of CO2 emission? Specially considering the tree is now gone and this article doesn't cover if there is re-plantation - something like sow a 5 plants of each tree used for timber.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_farm#Tree_farming_and_climate_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_farm#Tree_farming_and_cli... > Because tree farms are managed to enhance rapid growth, a tree farm tends to sequester carbon more quickly than an unmanaged forest, considering only the sequestration side of the equation and not the carbon release due to rot, fire, or harvest.[10] The fact that managed woodlands tend to be younger and younger trees grow faster and die less contributes to this distinction.[11] > While tree farms absorb large amounts of CO2, the long-term sequestration of this carbon depends on what is done with the harvested materials. Forests continue to absorb atmospheric carbon for centuries if left undisturbed.
- nostoc 9y agoTimber is carbon that a tree has pulled from the atmosphere. As long as it stays in a building, it's not going back in the atmosphere. Planting trees and turning them into timber is a form of carbon sequestration. As long as it doesn't burn or decay...
- sametmax 9y agoAlso France forests are ones of the most well managed in the world. We consistently have more trees growing than being cut.
- hcurtiss 9y agoThat's also true in the US. We have way more trees today than we did 100 years ago. https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/more-trees-than-there-were-100-years-ago-its-true https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stori...
- Neil44 9y agoIt’s interesting, you could say that trees grow out of the air, not the ground.
- kijin 9y agoIndeed, most of the mass of a tree comes from the air. Even the water was in the air not so long ago.
- minikites 9y agoYep, and when you (or any animal) lose weight, you're exhaling your body mass.
- wmblaettler 9y agoRichard Feynman on this very subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifk6iuLQk28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifk6iuLQk28
- azernik 9y agoThe CO2 captured by the tree when it grows is captured in the biomass; the wood itself chemically contains carbon, which stays trapped until the wood is burned. (cf the carbon-neutral cycle of biofuels.) Basically an organic form of carbon sequestration that happens to produce useful building materials. The issue of replanting is addressed at the end of the article, when they talk about sustainability - specifically in the context of having enough forest space that wood can be grown fast enough to keep up with demand.
- ekianjo 9y ago> when they talk about sustainability Problem is two-fold: - Trees take quite a long time to grow - Humans are notoriously bad at planning for the long term What could go wrong? If the demands picks up the most likely outcome is an increased pace of deforestation.
- adventured 9y ago> Humans are notoriously bad at planning for the long term Quite the opposite in fact. Humans are better than any other living things on the planet at planning over extremely long durations in relation to their life expectancy. Few other living things can even plan beyond a very, very short duration to begin with. We do 20, 50, 100 year business & government agreements. We build power grids that last decades or a century. We also frequently plot out power supply / generation for our grids that extend over many decades. We put up buildings that last centuries. We create water systems that last centuries. We implement government structures and programs that last decades or centuries by design. We create places of education, such as universities, that last centuries. We frequently plant renewable forests that require planning over decades. We regularly choose careers and life pathways (eg marriage, children) meant to last decades. When it comes to this planet, we're extraordinary at long-term planning, even though we're also obviously not perfect at it.
- ericd 9y agoIt's possible to be simultaneously bad at something and still the best. I think the idea that we're bad at planning comes partly from the fact that we fail to meet our expectations very regularly.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- toomanybeersies 9y agoMost construction timber comes from plantation forests, where trees are replanted after harvest.
- rubatuga 9y agoIt’s also known that after cement sets, it begins to draw in significant amounts of CO2 from the air. I wonder if this was taken into account?