4 ms·

Timber also has its upsides, including locking up carbon, and being easy to modify after the initial build.

by abraae 8y ago

exolymph 8y ago
Locking up carbon? The trees are produced / harvested according to demand, no? I think I may be misunderstanding your point in noting this.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  Trees are made of carbon. Growing a tree takes carbon from the atmosphere and turns it into wood. When you build a house out of the wood that carbon stays in the wood for the newer few hundred years rather than going into the atmosphere, so staying ‘locked up’.
- abraae 8y ago
  Dry, moisture-free wood is about 50% carbon by weight. So if the panelised timber frame superstructure for an rectangular two storey house of 150m2 is approximately 14 metric tonnes, you're locking up 7 tonnes of carbon for the life of the building (minus of course the carbon emitted to plant, prune, fell, transport, mill, treat, get the wood to site, install it etc.). If you can use more timber through the construction, all the more effect.
  - luckydata 8y ago
    Doesn't the same amount of carbon stays locked the same in a tree in the ground? I don't understand why building with wood helps in this case. There's plenty of space to grow more trees...
    - abraae 8y ago
      There's not an infinite amount of space to grow trees actually. A decent forest needs the right climate, water. Economically forestry must compete with other land uses such as grazing, orchardry, etc. It takes pinus radiata about 25 years to reach maturity. Then it can be turned into buildings/ houses, and the carbon locked up in that structure, which can be e.g in the city or suburbs- somewhere there will never be suitable for forestry. And then the forest can be replanted and the virtuous cycle begins again. tldr; locking carbon up in timber gives more flexibility than just relying on standing forests.
    - chrisseaton 8y ago
      If you’re buying the wood then someone is being paid and incentivised to plant more trees to sell next time.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]

Timber also has its upsides, including locking up carbon, and being easy to modify after the initial build.

by abraae 8y ago

Timber also has its upsides, including locking up carbon, and being easy to modify after the initial build.

Locking up carbon? The trees are produced / harvested according to demand, no? I think I may be misunderstanding your point in noting this.

chrisseaton 8y ago
Trees are made of carbon. Growing a tree takes carbon from the atmosphere and turns it into wood. When you build a house out of the wood that carbon stays in the wood for the newer few hundred years rather than going into the atmosphere, so staying ‘locked up’.
abraae 8y ago
Dry, moisture-free wood is about 50% carbon by weight. So if the panelised timber frame superstructure for an rectangular two storey house of 150m2 is approximately 14 metric tonnes, you're locking up 7 tonnes of carbon for the life of the building (minus of course the carbon emitted to plant, prune, fell, transport, mill, treat, get the wood to site, install it etc.). If you can use more timber through the construction, all the more effect.
- luckydata 8y ago
  Doesn't the same amount of carbon stays locked the same in a tree in the ground? I don't understand why building with wood helps in this case. There's plenty of space to grow more trees...
  - abraae 8y ago
    There's not an infinite amount of space to grow trees actually. A decent forest needs the right climate, water. Economically forestry must compete with other land uses such as grazing, orchardry, etc. It takes pinus radiata about 25 years to reach maturity. Then it can be turned into buildings/ houses, and the carbon locked up in that structure, which can be e.g in the city or suburbs- somewhere there will never be suitable for forestry. And then the forest can be replanted and the virtuous cycle begins again. tldr; locking carbon up in timber gives more flexibility than just relying on standing forests.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    If you’re buying the wood then someone is being paid and incentivised to plant more trees to sell next time.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]