The gradual abandonment of concrete and steel in favor of wooden building materials will significantly reduce the level of harmful carbon in the atmosphere.
It is known that wood is one of the most environmentally friendly building materials known to man. Nowadays, it is increasingly inferior to ceramics and concrete, which are cheap to manufacture, unpretentious in operation and, moreover, have considerable strength. However, there is also another From the point of view, wooden construction can be the same factor that will solve the problem of carbon pollution in large cities – because wood can absorb carbon from the environment as efficiently as living wood.
The main problem when using wood is, of course, its flammability. However, it should be noted that structures made of dense wood are much more difficult to set fire than their counterparts made of plywood and particleboard. While the latter burn completely, natural wood usually burns on the outside, but can maintain structural integrity on the inside. Buildings made of thick timber, properly laid, can be almost as fire-resistant as concrete buildings. Even with an increase in the mass of wooden buildings by only 10% will absorb up to 10,000,000 tons of harmful carbon from the atmosphere per year. Of course, this is true only for those countries where there is a stable industry of extraction and processing of wood. In fact, replacing concrete with wood in large cities will make a much greater contribution to the environment. The fact is that the manufacture of concrete requires an incredibly high temperature, as well as melting steel for reinforcement. Both processes consume a lot of fuel, the products of which, in turn, poison the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. As an example of high-rise wooden construction in Chicago, the project of a wooden skyscraper River Beech Tower was proposed, the height of which should be 80 floors. Of course, this is not the only such project, in the world there is a gradual retro trend for wooden buildings. Builders note that in many respects it is much easier to work with wood, and to work and live in wooden houses is also much more comfortable than in modern “boxes” of concrete and steel.