Solid wood products such as cross laminated timber (CLT) are natural, renewable and are far less energy-intensive to produce and apply than alternative materials. Reducing the levels of embodied carbon is critical and can be achieved through the application of structural timber technology. When considering the whole life carbon of buildings, the embodied energy forms a significant part. This involves reducing the operational energy required for the heating and lighting of a building. There is an ongoing requirement and government responsibility to decarbonise the national grid by 2050. Globally, forests could provide abatement to about 25% of current emissions by 2030 through reduced deforestation, forest management and afforestation. Commercially managed woodland locks down one third more CO2 than wild forest woodland. The amount of carbon sequestered in a forest can be increased via forest management and reforestation, which involves replanting trees to replace those cut down for timber to increase the carbon density of a pre-existing forest. Sequestration of carbon dioxide by trees from the atmosphere equates to approximately 900kg of CO2 per cubic meter of wood, which it holds captive during its entire lifetime, even when it is reprocessed in the form of a building. Trees use photosynthesis to take carbon dioxide out of the air and transform it into sugars which it uses to sustain and grow. Something as simple as planting a tree can sequester carbon. The latest technological advances have made it possible to take carbon dioxide out of the air via mechanical processes and store it deep underground, but this is only a recent innovation. This is an extremely complex process that has taken mankind centuries to mimic. Wood has the unique ability to do both.Ĭarbon sequestration describes long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming and avoid dangerous climate change. “According to the research conducted by Wood for Good, there are two ways to decrease CO2 in the atmosphere – either by reducing emissions, or by removing CO2 and storing it. Greg Cooper, Pre-Construction Manager of the X-LAM Alliance, speaks about the positive impact of cross laminated timber (CLT) on carbon sequestration within the built environment: Within the built environment there are often discussions focused on operational carbon emissions in relation to the environmental impact of building but not necessarily sequestered carbon. To put it simply, it is the process of capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). We may commonly hear the term ‘carbon sequestration’ but what does it actually mean? The dictionary definition of sequestration is ‘isolated and hidden away’.
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