The Latest Technology Advances In Low-Carbon Construction Are Promising

credit: Flickr

"If there was any doubt that climate change is an enduring part of the business agenda, the increased focus on sustainability by leaders over the past year should put it to rest," says Joe Ucuzoglu, CEO of Deloitte Global.

He's referring to the fact that about two-thirds of the total heating influence of all human-produced greenhouse gases comes from concrete and steel, which account for more than 50% of the embodied carbon footprint in commercial buildings, reports Fast Company.

"We may be witnessing a rapid sea-change in innovative green building materials like mass timber and carbon-negative concrete," he says.

Mass timber, or cross-laminated timber, is engineered by gluing or nailing together sheets of wood in cross-grain patterns and treating them with flame retardants.

It's a renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable choice for low-carbon construction because it reduces the energy, resources, and emission-heavy impacts of producing concrete or steel.

There are other environmental impacts from CLT, but "with proper forestry management, I believe the benefits of replacing steel and concrete with mass timber outweigh the potential downsides," says Tommy Linstroth, founder and CEO of FutureMass, a company that produces CLT and has more than 1,600 projects in the US under its Read the Entire Article

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