Timber iQ October - November 2017 // Issue: 34 | Page 50

FEATURES
In several first world countries, the number of wooden houses far outweigh their bricks and mortar counterparts.
48 OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 //
"Timber is the only building
material that is carbon neutral."
"If you compare timber construction to normal,
conventional brick and mortar construction the situation is
that, from cradle to grave, timber is most definitely much
better, simply because it is harvested, it is processed and at
the end of its lifecycle, it can be turned back into dust.
"Once you've taken cement and sand and you've
converted the sand into fired bricks and so on, it is really
difficult to try and convert that back into the earth because
it is a converted element. That is one aspect of
sustainability with respect to timber.
"The other one is that as far as carbon footprint is
concerned, a piece of timber, a log, actually has a negative
carbon footprint. Timber has a negative carbon footprint
because as timber grows, the leaves absorb carbon dioxide
out of the atmosphere and turn that carbon dioxide into
oxygen that is then emitted.
"When it absorbs the carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, it stores it. That carbon dioxide gets stored in
the timber. That carbon dioxide eventually is put back into
the earth as carbon dioxide once the timber degrades and
so on."
Once you've harvested the timber and cut it down there
are certain aspects that are generated or give off carbon.
The process of harvesting the timber, the process of
cutting the timber down, the process of getting the timber
ready for construction. – These processes generate carbon
and with the entire process of timber being carbon
negative in terms of its footprint, all the negative carbon
Some of the coldest regions in the world rely on timber to
insulate their homes and bungalows.