A wooden house is truly an ecological choice
- Log houses absorb much carbon dioxide to their massive wooden structure, which reduces the amount of green house gases in the atmosphere. The net sink of an average sized log house is approximately 40 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 20 years of carbon dioxide emissions caused by private motoring of an average-sized family.
- When it comes to wooden structures, timber logs have been proven to be the most ecological building material. In Finland, the share of wood in all building is 40 %, but it produces only 5 % of the environmental burden. The share of concrete in building is 43 % but of the environmental burden it is responsible for no less than 80 %.
- Producing components for wooden homes uses very little energy – The byproduct of the log house factory is energy. The excess wood and wood shaving dust are collected and used to produce renewable energy.
- That wood is ecological is widely known and appreciated throughout the world. The long term use of wood directly affects the amount of carbon dioxide in the air when the wood is from a forest where the principles of sustainable development have been followed.
- Wood is a renewable natural resource and in Finland, less of the forests are logged compared to the rate with which new trees are able to grow.
The carbon balance of concrete elements, brick, wood and log walls were compared in a research commissioned by the advocacy group for log house building Hirsitaloteollisuus ry. The research was conducted by a member of the Finnish Association of Architects Matti Alasaari. In the research, the manufacturing, transportation, building and required maintenance over a time period of 50 years were taken into consideration. The emissions caused by manufacturing and building were only 2,5 t, a mere 10th of the amount absorbed by the walls. Concrete or brick walls, on the other hand, had much larger amounts of emissions without any carbon dioxide absorbed by the walls. Log is the only raw material whose CO2 balance is clearly positive.
References:
Alasaarela Matti, 2008 Hirsiseinän ympäristövaikutusten laskenta elinkaaritarkastelun avulla (Calculating the environmental effect of log walls through life cycle impact assessment)
Saari Arto, 2001 Rakennusten ja rakennusosien ympäristöselosteet (Environmental statements of buildings and structural elements).