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I think that construction timber benefit as a Carbon sequester is too often downplayed or simply ignored while it could be significant. Timber has many advanta

I think that construction timber benefit as a Carbon sequester is too often downplayed or simply ignored while it could be significant. Timber has many advantages compared to concrete, including longevity. The housing shortage won’t last forever thanks to demography, but we’ll need to replace many badly aging buildings anyway, and it takes time to grow trees and build the whole infrastructure around this construction technique, we should try to not sit and wait for a change.

MagicMoonlight 3y ago
Wood does not last longer than concrete. We’ve got concrete around from thousands of years ago and you can make it self-healing.
- shortsunblack 3y ago
  It is to be said though that rebar in concrete does not last. It is also to be said concrete industry is highly innovative and there are alternatives in the market and in R&D to steel reinforcement. Fiber-reinforced concrete for example. All the old structures that still are here used concrete without steel reinforcement. We also have such structures today. Dams are made out of roller compacted concrete that don't use steel. Those structures last hundreds of years. There's also shotcrete which is used to stabilize soil.
shortsunblack 3y ago
Ability for timber to sequester carbon is really complicated. Most studies that arrive at positive conclusions for industry ignore land-use change associated emissions. I.e razing an old-growth forest only to plant plantation trees. Old growth forests sequester carbon in the soil and their roots. They also allow for an ecosystems that itself sequester carbon (various bacteria). Forestry IS not currently sustainable managed. All the IKEA and FSC scandals attest to that. European old growth forests are for some reason disappearing. It's really irresponsible to gesture at this vague idealist future when the present is anything but. Yes, technically wood sequesters carbon. Yes, when trees rot and decompose they release carbon. Yes, if you turn the tree into timber or furniture that carbon will be then locked for very least couple decades. No, forestry is not sustainably managed. Nowhere close. Europeans are razing down their old growth forests for heating. And wood pellets have higher carbon emissions than coal per unit of energy produced. See NYTimes coverage: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/07/world/europe/eu-logging-wood-pellets.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/07/world/europe/...

MagicMoonlight 3y ago

Wood does not last longer than concrete. We’ve got concrete around from thousands of years ago and you can make it self-healing.

shortsunblack 3y ago
It is to be said though that rebar in concrete does not last. It is also to be said concrete industry is highly innovative and there are alternatives in the market and in R&D to steel reinforcement. Fiber-reinforced concrete for example. All the old structures that still are here used concrete without steel reinforcement. We also have such structures today. Dams are made out of roller compacted concrete that don't use steel. Those structures last hundreds of years. There's also shotcrete which is used to stabilize soil.

shortsunblack 3y ago

Ability for timber to sequester carbon is really complicated. Most studies that arrive at positive conclusions for industry ignore land-use change associated emissions. I.e razing an old-growth forest only to plant plantation trees. Old growth forests sequester carbon in the soil and their roots. They also allow for an ecosystems that itself sequester carbon (various bacteria). Forestry IS not currently sustainable managed. All the IKEA and FSC scandals attest to that. European old growth forests are for some reason disappearing. It's really irresponsible to gesture at this vague idealist future when the present is anything but. Yes, technically wood sequesters carbon. Yes, when trees rot and decompose they release carbon. Yes, if you turn the tree into timber or furniture that carbon will be then locked for very least couple decades. No, forestry is not sustainably managed. Nowhere close. Europeans are razing down their old growth forests for heating. And wood pellets have higher carbon emissions than coal per unit of energy produced. See NYTimes coverage: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/07/world/europe/eu-logging-wood-pellets.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/07/world/europe/...