Free Carbon Calculator Shows How Much CO2 Wood Construction Saves

by | Nov 21, 2016 | News

WoodWorks, a proponent of large-scale wood construction in the U.S., launched an updated version of its free carbon calculator, adding more options for buildings made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) and other mass timber products. The addition reflects rising interest in large scale wood building construction.

WoodWorks, which receives finding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as timber companies and forest products manufacturers, promotes use of wood products as a means to store carbon, instead of building materials such as cement and steel that require fossil fuel energy to manufacture, a move that can help reduce greenhouse gases.

“The carbon calculator is a useful tool for building owners and designers who’d like to gain insight on the environmental value of alternate designs,” said Bill Parsons, Senior National Director of the Architectural & Engineering Solutions Team at WoodWorks. “It also provides information that allows them to express the carbon benefits of their wood building projects.”

To calculate the carbon benefits of a wood building, users access the carbon calculator at www.woodworks.org/carbon-calculator and enter nominal wood volume information. The calculator then estimates:

• How much time it takes U.S. and Canadian forests to grow that volume of wood
• The amount of carbon sequestered in the wood products, and
• Greenhouse gas emissions avoided by not using more fossil fuel-intensive materials.
• It also uses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator to equate the total carbon benefit to number of cars off the road and home operational energy.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/free-carbon-calculator-shows-how-much-co2-wood-construction-saves?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news

New Bill Will Push Research For U.S. Wood Building Construction

by | May 9, 2016 | News

A new bill from Congress would establish performance driven research for advancing tall wood building construction in the U.S.

The “Timber Innovation Act” would:

· Authorize the Tall Wood Building Prize Competition through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) annually for the next five years
· Create federal grants to support state, local, university and private sector education, outreach, research and development, including education and assistance for architects and builders, that will accelerate the use of wood in tall buildings
· Authorize technical assistance for USDA, in cooperation with state foresters and state extension directors (or equivalent state officials), to implement a program of education and technical assistance for mass timber applications

Recent advances in technology, engineering and safety have made it possible to build taller wooden buildings using newly-developed mass timber products, like cross-laminated timber. In the last five years, 17 buildings between seven and 14 stories have been built using heavy timber construction globally. Canada, Norway, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and France all have constructed and occupied multiple tall-wood buildings.

Other countries have already been considering wooden skyscrapers. Researchers presented the Mayor of London with plans for an 80-story wooden building just a few weeks ago.

Multiple organizations in the U.S. wood industry, including The American Wood Council (AWC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA), have all announced strong support for the bill.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/new-bill-would-push-research-timber-building-construction-us?utm_source=WIT050616&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WeekInTrees