Treated Wood, -a sustainable choice
A construction material, provided and renewable by Nature, with predictable performance, taking carbon from the atmosphere and locking it away for decades, with low energy demand and a feel good aesthetic, appreciated by almost everyone – that’s treated wood.
Wood is part of the bioeconomy, can be sourced responsibly, is a flexible and adaptable material that can be used efficiently and aligns with the concept of a circular economy. At the end of its life wood can be reused in a cascading process of uses, recycling or recovery of energy.
Wood is consequently the only truly renewable construction material. Wood offers a simple way to reduce the CO2 emissions that are understood to be the main cause of climate change through:
- the carbon sink effect of the forests;
- the carbon storage effect of wood products;
- substitution for carbon-intensive materials.
Executive Summary- Treated Wood, -A sustainable choice
The energy used to create the materials that make up a building is typically 22% of the total energy expended over the lifetime of the building. 1 Therefore it is worth paying attention to the materials specified, as well as to the energy-efficiency of the structure. There is no other commonly used building material that requires so little energy to produce as wood. Thanks to photosynthesis, trees can capture CO2 in the air and combine it with water from the soil and produce the organic material wood.