木材具有许多特性,使其非常适合可持续设计. 与其他建筑材料相比,木制品的含碳量较低, 哪个表明温室气体排放量更少, 在树木生长的过程中,它们继续储存被树木吸收的碳. 低含碳量+低储存量=低碳影响. 木材也是天然的和可再生的. 它可以促进能源效率和亲生物设计, and is durable, adaptable and re-useable. Explore the sections below for resources that can help you make informed sustainability decisions.
使用这些资源来告知你的建筑材料选择
建筑全生命周期评估实用指南, biogenic carbon, carbon storage, 环保产品声明, and more.
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整个建筑生命周期评估导论:基础
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to quantify environmental impacts over the lifetime of a product or system, 从最初的原料提取到生产, distribution, use, and final disposal.
How do we build sustainably and achieve carbon-reduction goals while also meeting the housing and infrastructure needs of a growing population? 一个答案是更多的木结构建筑.
According to Architecture 2030, buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Embodied carbon—i.e., GHGs associated with materials and construction processes throughout the lifetime of a structure—accounts for about 11%, 其中大部分(9%)与混凝土的使用有关, iron and steel.1 Embodied carbon, especially upfront emissions associated with manufacturing materials and constructing the building, can be significant. The upfront energy associated with a traditional non-wood building is roughly equal to the energy required to operate that same building for 17 years!2
木制品含碳量低
Manufacturing wood products requires less fossil fuel-based energy than either steel or concrete; most of the energy comes from renewable biomass (e.g.树皮和其他残留的纤维),否则这些纤维就会被浪费掉.3 Substituting wood for fossil fuel-intensive materials reduces embodied carbon and is an important step in reaching our near-term climate goals.
Wood buildings store carbon
随着树木的生长,它们会吸收二氧化碳2)从大气中释放出氧气(O2),并将碳吸收到它们的木材、叶子或针叶和根中. 这种碳被称为生物碳. When trees are manufactured into building materials, the wood continues to store carbon. (Wood is 50% carbon by dry weight.4) By using wood in buildings, we keep this carbon out of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the structure—longer if the wood is reclaimed and reused or recycled.
“Every year, 17,000 buildings constructed with other materials could be built with wood. In most cases, 用木材建造的成本大致相同, 然而,环境效益是显著的. 建筑采用可持续的创新木制品, properly managed forests is a relatively easy way to alleviate a sizable amount of U.S. carbon emissions.”
– Jennifer Cover, President and CEO, WoodWorks, 向能源和自然资源委员会作证, United States Senate
森林和城市共同努力将碳排除在大气之外
Sustainable forest management practices such as those used in North America are essential to the forest-carbon cycle. 而木质建筑将碳锁在建筑环境中, 下一代树木开始生长并吸收二氧化碳2. This helps to ensure that our forests remain a carbon sink while creating a sustainable supply of wood for new buildings.
Strong markets for wood products incentivize sustainable forest management by providing an economic reason to keep forest land forested instead of converting them for other uses. 他们还鼓励土地所有者不仅投资于森林再生, but thinning and other landscape restoration efforts that promote forest health and reduce the risk of wildfire.
This series of WoodWorks articles is intended to help developers and design teams account for biogenic carbon in their wood building projects. It includes an overview followed by articles that examine accounting practices at each stage of a project’s life cycle, 不同生命周期评估工具的细微差别, 长期碳储存和延迟排放, and recommendations for reporting biogenic carbon in a way that aligns with international standards.
Input the volume of structural wood in your building and this tool will estimate its carbon impact—including carbon stored in the wood and avoided greenhouse gas emissions—and how long it takes U.S. 和加拿大的森林来种植这么多的木材. 虽然它没有LCA的彻底性, 计算器可以帮助量化木结构对你的团队的好处, client or community.
Biophilic design is increasingly used to boost occupant well-being by creating a connection to nature through the use of natural elements like daylight, plants, water and exposed wood. These elements have been attributed to positive outcomes in humans—from reducing stress to boosting productivity.
In terms of operating energy, wood has the advantage of low thermal conductivity compared to steel and concrete.5 因此,木质建筑很容易达到高标准的隔热.
While any structural system can be designed to achieve a tight building envelope, the precise manufacturing of mass timber systems can provide exceptional air tightness. Wood is also proving to be a good choice for designers who want to meet the Passive House (Passivhaus) standard or create net-zero operational energy buildings. Read about 11 E Lenox in Boston, a seven-story mass timber Passive House project from design-build firm Haycon and Monte French Design Studio.
Because many factors have a greater influence on energy efficiency than the choice of structural material, a more relevant point for many building designers is that wood building systems have low embodied carbon. LCA studies consistently show that wood outperforms other materials in this area.6,7