Mass wood buildings are popular for their claim to the neutrality and sustainability of carbon compared to conventional concrete and steel structures. But is this common assumption true throughout the table?
This is the question that two architects of the Corgan Design Firm have studied from a report from the World Resources Institute of 2023 presented sources of carbon emissions in the wood supply chain that were not well documented. )[These] Wood harvesting practices are often not counted on the analysis of the life cycle evaluation of our industry (LCA), “says Varun Kohli, director and director of Sustainability of Corgan, New York, who was associated with Mahdi Afkhami, a Corgan design researcher.
Kohli and Afkhami published their own report on issues affecting massive biogenic carbon emissions, including “Slash”, the residual parts of trees that include branches, branches, roots and bark left in the forest during harvesting.
Only 35% of the harvested trees reach the building phase, while the remaining 65% often do not have the calculations, as they release their biogenic carbon into the atmosphere, according to the report.
Creating a new tool
From their research findings, the team designed a free carbon calculator “to help architects and designers estimate biogenic carbon emissions [in the raw material supply stage] To better manage the general carbon calculations embodied in a project, “according to Corgan.
“Understand the amount of co2 The equivalent of Slash in the raw material extraction phase is essential for developing more accurate and effective carbon management strategies, “says Kohli, who adds that architects and designers can use the tool to make decisions with more accurate information.
“This is an exclusively interesting tool because it emphasizes an aspect of the life cycle of massive wood: the harvesting of waste,” says Vincent Martinez, director general of non -profit architecture oriented to the climate action of Seattle. “Not many tools look at residual biomass after harvest.”
After the 2030 architecture received a wooden innovation grant from the United States Forestry Service in 2023, it included the Corgan tool as one of the dozens of tools and other resources for its massive wooden tip project, according to Martinez.
The tool also “adds more information and analysis on the impact of massive shipping wood from the place of manufacture to the site of the building on the sustainability of a project,” he says.
Use of massive wood in increasing
Corgan’s study is in the midst of global wooden demand, which is expected to increase by four by 2050, says the WRI report. “The growth of massive wood projects is diminishing,” says Tom Braun, mass wood consultant for iron, IW-CIO (IW) workers and the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT). “Massive wood is here to stay.”
The Corgan study examines three Slash management approaches, such as places composition, battery burns and forest chewing, a fuel reduction method to reduce fire risk. He also considers seven species of trees that are commonly used in massive wood projects in the United States, including Alaska’s yellow cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock FIR and western red cedar, which vary at the species -species carbon emission levels.
This “allows designers to consider a kind of intensive carbon wood in each phase of the project, resulting in more sustainable results,” says Corgan’s statement.
The 2030 Architecture research has shown that designers are interested in massive wood, but they need to better understand their environmental implications, according to Martinez. “Architects are curious about materials and are diligent due to better understanding the supply chain.”
Although LCA analysis is widely used, the industry continues to develop “processes and boundaries for LCA analysis for massive wood and many other construction products and materials,” says Kohli.
“Our research and findings feel like a natural step in a matured industry around the carbon embodied,” he says. “Carbon calculations embodied as part of the design process are still quite new for the design and construction industry.”
Many LCA tools available
Other common tools include tools for the life cycle evaluation tools such as Tally, Oneclick LCA and Athena Impact Estimator. “Tally allows users to include or exclude biogenic carbon flows in the alignment with ISO standards, Oneclick LCA calculates biogenic storage of carbon separately without including the GLOG and ATHENA potential, and Athena integrates biogenic carbon flows by default between the life cycle stages,” says Kohli.
Aigstream, a free tool based on Excel in Open Beta, evaluates wood products at all stages of the life cycle and allows the customization of end -of -life scenarios, while also having carbon benefits related to forest supply and management (A0 impacts).
Since the Corgan tool has lived live in April, researchers have been collecting comments and advancing further sustainable design tools.
“Our research is the next step in hosting the collaboration of the industry,” says Afkhami. “We hope that this collective effort will improve carbon accounting practices and promote more sustainable construction processes.”
