timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber as a Sustainable Building Material

Timber as a Sustainable Material

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timbers innate attractions

Timber is a light, strong material, used in building structures for millennia because it is:
Renewable; Simple to manufacture; Easy to use; and Stable and safe.

Importantly now, it is also a store for carbon.

Woolmers pump house, Tasmania, 1841

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Ease of manufacture
Producing timber, poles, veneer and engineered timber products is a relatively simple, low capital process. It uses few chemicals, relatively little energy, and produces few pollutants.
Staff of a small veneer plant
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Transport
Logs weigh about 1 tonne/m3.They are transported from the forest in trucks. Most sawmills are positioned near their log supply, so transport distances are usually not long.
Logs on landing and being unloaded
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Producing sawn timber

Logs are delivered to site, stored and then sawn. Because of the character of logs, only about 35% of hardwood and 45% of softwood logs are converted to timber. The remainder is sawdust or chipped.
Hardwood saw mills
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber drying (or seasoning)

The timber is then dried. This is either in the open air or in a kiln. Air drying is slow and very low energy. Air dried material can be finished in the kiln. Kiln drying is faster. Often, shaving and sawdust fires the boilers that heat the kilns.
Timber in racks for drying
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Dry milling & sale

Dry timber is graded and sorted. It can then be moulded to different shapes or sold for further processing. Often, no other processes are necessary before it can be used.
Quality control in a dry mill
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Veneer manufacture
Logs for structural or decorative veneer are delivered to site. It may be sawn into flitches and heated in water before peeling or slicing. Unused section of log are often sawn into timber.
Stacking veneer from a slicer
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Veneer drying and grading

Once sliced or peeled, the veneer is dried in a dryer, before being graded. After grading, the veneer is trimmed and can be laid up into sheets.

Grading veneer
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Engineered products
Plywood and LVL are layers of peeled veneer glued and pressed together in industrial equipment. Nail plating of trusses requires a simple hydraulic press and a work space.
Pressing nail plates
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Glue lamination
Glue laminated material is sawn timber, planned to give a smooth edges and adhered with a waterproof glue. Transport is the only effective limitation on the size of glulam members
Prefabricating glulam beams
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Refurbishment & recycling

The ease of initial manufacture translates to an ease in:
construction refurbishment; & recycling,

Large sections, joinery and fitting are often recycled. Smaller sections may be reused.
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Carbon storage in forests

During photosynthesis trees absorb CO2 from the air, stores the carbon in woody tissue and give off oxygen. To produce 1 Kg of wood, a tree:
absorb in 1.47 Kg of CO2; and returns 1.07 Kg of oxygen to the atmosphere

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Carbon stored in forests

In 2001, Australia's plantations and managed forests stored a net 22.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. So, they stored more than half of the greenhouse gases emitted by all the passenger cars in Australia that year.

50% of CO2

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Carbon stored in building

When logs are converted to timber and other wood products, the carbon from the tree is stored in the products. Timber buildings are carbon stores.

Bus stop, Kings Meadow, Tasmania

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Current greenhouse accounting method

The current greenhouse accounting method calculates decomposition of forest products using product service life pools:
Pool 1 - service life 3 years - paper products Pool 2 - service life 10 years - pallets, palings Pool 3 - service life 30 years - kitchen furniture Pool 4 - service life 50 years - poles, construction materials

At the end of each pool life, the carbon is assumed to return to the atmosphere. This may overestimate emission considerably.
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Alternative method
Establish five service life pools of 3, 10, 30, 50 and 90 years Establish three age groups within each service life pool - Young , Mid, and Old Wood products then progress through each age group with one of five alternatives:
Progress to next age pool Leave pool and enter landfill pool Leave pool and enter recycling pool Leave pool and their carbon is emitted to atmosphere Long-term storage beyond pool service life

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Alternative Method
Recycle Landfill Decomposition Atmosphere

Longer-term storage
Leaves pool

Bioenergy Atmosphere
Leaves pool Leaves pool

Carbon from forest

Young age group of pool Mid age group of pool Old age group of pool

Product to permanent storage

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Alternative Method

The alternative method better reflects what happens to wood products. The effect on calculated emissions is shown on the following two slides.

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Fate of Carbon in W ood Products - decompositi on over servi ce lif e, no age gr oups wi thin pool s
3 00 0 0 0

C arbon from forest C arbon in p rodu ct pools

2 50 0 0 0

2 00 0 0 0

Carbo n , kt

1 50 0 0 0

1 00 0 0 0

50 0 0 0

1989

Ye ar

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2004

1944

1949

1954

1959

1964

1969

1974

1979

1984

1994

1999

timber in environmentally sustainable development

F ate o f C arbo n i n W oo d P ro d uc ts - Ag e G ro up s W ith i n P o ol s, w ith

La nd fi l, R e cyc li n g an d B io en e rg y in cl u de d
3 00 0 00
C arb o n f ro m f o re s t To t al st o rag e in wo o d p ro d uc ts a nd la nd f ill p o o ls C arb o n in land fill p o o l C arb o n in wo o d p ro d uc t p o o ls

2 50 0 00

2 00 0 00

C arb o n in b io e ne rg y p o o l

C a r bo n , k t

1 50 0 00

1 00 0 00

50 0 00

1944

1 95 2

19 6 0

1 9 68

19 7 6

1 9 84

19 9 2

Ye a r

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2 0 00

timber in environmentally sustainable development

Alternative Methods - Conclusion

A life cycle approach, including consideration of the use of residues, storage in service, recycling and disposal to landfill has the potential to significantly decrease the contribution from wood products to Australias estimates of greenhouse gas emissions.

Timber as a Sustainable Material

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber impacts compared to other materials

Timber is only one of a range of materials available for construction. All material have an impact and it is possible to compare their use in manufacture and use using LCA techniques.
Shear connector positions in a glulam beam
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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber uses less fossil fuel to make

500 400 300 200 100 0 1.5 2 35 435

Fossil fuel energy (MJ/kg)

Rough sawn timber Concrete Steel Aluminium

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber store carbon. Others release it

6000 5000 5320 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Carbon released (kg/m3) Rough sawn timber Carbon stored (kg/m3) Concrete Steel 15 120 250 0 0

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Embodied Energy of Materials

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Effect Steel Glass Concrete Wood

Comparative Energy Use in an idealised structure where 4 materials have an equal contribution to the structure
derived from Factor 4- Doubling Wealth - Halving the Resource Use:

Timber as a Sustainable Material

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber has lower embodied energy

Timber as a Sustainable Material

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber has lower ecological profile

Timber as a Sustainable Material

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timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber elements have lower impact

Embodied energy of differing window frames

Timber as a Sustainable Material www.timber.org.au

timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber as a Sustainable Material

www.timber.org.au

timber in environmentally sustainable development

Timber as a Sustainable Material

www.timber.org.au