Articles tagged with "cross-laminated-timber"
Mass Timber As Lego: Flyvbjerg’s Modularity Meets Low-Carbon Construction - CleanTechnica
The article explores the potential of mass timber, particularly cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam beams, as a transformative material in low-carbon construction, framed through the project management insights of Professor Bent Flyvbjerg. Flyvbjerg, known for his research on why large projects often fail due to delays and cost overruns, advocates for modularity—using repeatable, scalable components akin to Lego bricks—to improve project reliability. Mass timber’s factory-made, standardized panels fit this modular approach, allowing for faster, more predictable assembly on site, which aligns with Flyvbjerg’s principles for successful megaprojects. This modularity not only reduces embodied carbon compared to concrete and steel but also supports scalable, efficient construction methods that can address housing shortages and climate goals. The article also highlights Flyvbjerg’s emphasis on reference class forecasting (RCF) to counteract optimism bias in project planning. By comparing new mass timber projects to a growing database of similar completed timber
energymaterialsmass-timbermodular-constructionlow-carbon-constructioncross-laminated-timbersustainable-building-materialsFrom Towers To Turbines: The Most Fascinating Mass Timber Projects Worldwide - CleanTechnica
The article highlights the significant advancements and growing adoption of mass timber—particularly cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam—in modern construction worldwide. Initially gaining attention about a decade ago as alternatives to concrete and steel for mid-rise buildings, mass timber has since evolved to enable the construction of skyscrapers, cultural landmarks, bridges, and even wind turbine towers. This shift reflects a broader reimagining of wood as a sustainable, low-carbon building material that addresses housing shortages, job creation, and embodied carbon reduction, with Canada positioned as a key player in this movement. Several landmark projects exemplify the potential and diversity of mass timber construction. Milwaukee’s Ascent tower, currently the tallest mass timber building at 25 stories, demonstrates the practicality of timber high-rises in urban America by combining a concrete core with timber framing above. Europe’s Mjøstårnet in Norway, an all-timber 85-meter structure, and Vienna’s HoHo tower, which integrates three-quarters timber with concrete
mass-timbercross-laminated-timberglulamsustainable-materialslow-carbon-constructiontimber-skyscrapersgreen-building-materialsMass Timber & Fire Safety: What The Evidence Shows - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica examines the fire safety of mass timber, highlighting its growing use due to advantages like lighter weight, faster assembly, and carbon storage compared to concrete and steel. A key concern for stakeholders—developers, insurers, and regulators—is whether mass timber can withstand fire as effectively as traditional materials. The article explains that mass timber behaves differently in fire: thick timber members form a protective char layer that insulates the core, slowing heat spread and preserving structural integrity. Unlike steel, which loses strength rapidly at high temperatures, or concrete, which can spall and expose reinforcing steel, mass timber fails gradually and predictably, allowing designers to size components to maintain load-bearing capacity during fire exposure. Fire testing supports these findings, with mass timber assemblies routinely achieving 1-2 hour fire ratings and sometimes longer. Full-scale compartment burn tests in North America and Europe have shown that mass timber structures can survive intense fires without collapse, with fires often self-extinguishing after consuming room contents. The National
materialsmass-timberfire-safetycross-laminated-timbersustainable-building-materialscarbon-storageconstruction-materialsFrom Reuse To Burial: Managing Mass Timber Beyond The Building Stage - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica discusses the critical importance of managing mass timber beyond its use in construction to ensure its role as a genuine climate solution. Mass timber, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), is gaining traction for its ability to reduce embodied carbon by replacing high-emission materials like concrete and steel and by storing biogenic carbon absorbed during tree growth. However, the climate benefits hinge on effective end-of-life strategies that keep the carbon locked away rather than releasing it back into the atmosphere. Designing buildings for disassembly enables direct reuse of timber components, potentially extending carbon storage to a full century and avoiding emissions from new material production. When direct reuse is not feasible, cascading uses—downcycling timber into smaller components, furniture, or composite products—can prolong carbon storage and reduce demand for virgin materials, though less efficiently than reuse. Beyond reuse and cascading, transforming timber into stable forms like biochar offers long-term carbon sequestration. Biochar, produced by heating wood without oxygen, res
materialsmass-timbercarbon-footprintsustainable-constructioncross-laminated-timberclimate-solutioncarbon-storageWhy Canada Must Align Sequestered Carbon Accounting With Global Markets - CleanTechnica
The article discusses the critical need for Canada to align its accounting of sequestered carbon in mass timber construction with global market standards. It uses the example of Lytton, British Columbia, which suffered devastating heat in 2021, to highlight the urgency of climate-resilient building practices. The town’s rebuild is serving as a pilot project for integrating carbon sequestration into building design, particularly through the use of mass timber products like cross-laminated timber (CLT). These wood products lock away carbon absorbed during tree growth, effectively acting as carbon banks that can reduce a building’s overall carbon footprint if the wood is reused or disposed of in ways that prevent decay. Scientifically, mass timber has a significant advantage over conventional materials like concrete and steel in terms of embodied carbon emissions. While producing a cubic meter of CLT can store about one ton of CO₂ equivalent, concrete and steel production emit hundreds to over a thousand kilograms of CO₂ per cubic meter. Studies show timber buildings can reduce
energymaterialscarbon-sequestrationmass-timbercross-laminated-timbersustainable-constructionembodied-carbonBuilding The Workforce & Finance Tools For Mass Timber Growth - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica discusses the critical non-technical barriers to scaling mass timber construction in Canada, emphasizing workforce development and financial tools as key areas for growth. While mass timber’s engineering, fire safety, and carbon benefits are well established, challenges remain in economics, institutional support, and skilled labor availability. Unlike Europe, which has coordinated training programs producing skilled workers in digital modeling, CNC operation, and modular construction, Canada lacks a national strategy to develop the specialized workforce needed to support mass timber’s expansion. The article calls for collaboration among educational institutions and industry to train thousands of workers over the next decade. Financial volatility, particularly lumber price swings, presents another major hurdle. Unlike concrete and steel, mass timber lacks established futures markets or hedging mechanisms, making project costs unpredictable and deterring developers. The article stresses the need for financial instruments, long-term contracts, or vertical integration to stabilize input costs and enable reliable pricing. Insurance is also a concern, as Canadian insurers remain cautious due to limited data
materialsmass-timbercross-laminated-timbermodular-constructionsustainable-buildingconstruction-technologytimber-industryMass Timber Nations: Case Studies & Canada’s Export Opportunities - CleanTechnica
The article "Mass Timber Nations: Case Studies & Canada’s Export Opportunities" from CleanTechnica highlights the growing global significance of mass timber as a sustainable construction material that locks carbon into buildings while reducing reliance on high-emission materials like concrete and steel. It emphasizes Canada’s potential to become a leader in this sector by learning from international examples and strategically positioning itself in increasingly competitive export markets. The article outlines how cross laminated timber (CLT), developed in the 1990s in Austria and Germany, revolutionized mass timber production through vertical integration with sawmills and a global export focus, setting quality and certification standards that established durable competitive advantages. The article also examines Finland and Sweden’s coordinated strategies, where government policies, corporate investments, and education dramatically increased wood use in mid-rise construction, supported by major forestry companies treating mass timber as a core business. Japan’s approach combines cultural wood-building traditions with modern adaptations, including government mandates for wood in public buildings and seismic engineering tailored to local species, illustrating how
materialsmass-timbercross-laminated-timbersustainable-constructioncarbon-reductionbuilding-materialsexport-opportunitiesAdhesives, Dowels & Veneers: The Industrial Choices Shaping Mass Timber - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica explores the industrial choices shaping mass timber production, emphasizing how different manufacturing methods impact costs, carbon footprints, and building applications. Mass timber, including cross laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL), is gaining attention for its climate benefits by sequestering carbon and replacing more carbon-intensive materials like steel and concrete. Two primary production methods dominate: traditional sawn lumber, which involves milling logs into boards that are dried and glued into layers, and veneer-based processes, where logs are rotary peeled into thin sheets for laminates. The sawn lumber approach leverages existing sawmill infrastructure but suffers from inefficiencies and waste, while veneer-based production achieves higher material utilization and uniform mechanical properties but requires large, capital-intensive facilities. The article also highlights emerging hybrid and experimental manufacturing techniques that blend veneer and sawn lumber or use oriented strand and parallel strand products, often incorporating robotics and automation to reduce labor and waste. A key industry debate centers on the use of adhesives
materialsmass-timbercross-laminated-timberlaminated-veneer-lumbersustainable-constructionwood-technologymodular-constructionMass Timber At Parity: Fixing Insurance & Code Bottlenecks - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica highlights that the main barriers to scaling mass timber construction in Canada have shifted from technical feasibility to insurance costs and inconsistent building code adoption. While engineers have demonstrated that cross-laminated timber (CLT) can produce tall, strong, and safe buildings, insurers currently charge significantly higher premiums—often four to ten times those of concrete—due to limited historical claims data and perceived risks such as fire and water damage during construction. This elevated insurance cost undermines the financial viability of mass timber projects despite their advantages in speed and carbon reduction. Additionally, uneven adoption of the 2020 National Building Code provisions across provinces and municipalities creates regulatory uncertainty and delays, particularly because many jurisdictions still require case-by-case alternative solutions reviews rather than allowing prescriptive, repeatable approvals. To overcome these bottlenecks, the article advocates for normalizing mass timber through data-driven risk assessment and regulatory harmonization. Establishing a national data trust to aggregate claims, fire test results, and performance monitoring would
energymaterialsmass-timbercross-laminated-timberbuilding-codesconstructionsustainable-materialsWhy An All-Electric Forestry Supply Chain Matters for CLT’s Carbon Balance - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica emphasizes the importance of transitioning to an all-electric forestry supply chain to enhance the carbon balance of cross laminated timber (CLT). While CLT is already net carbon negative—storing significantly more CO2 than emitted during production—there remain notable emissions from diesel-powered harvesters, trucks, natural gas-fueled kilns, and fossil-based adhesives. By adopting available clean technologies and supportive policies, these emissions can be drastically reduced, pushing the forestry supply chain closer to zero emissions and strengthening the climate benefits of mass timber products. Canada is well-positioned to lead this transition due to its sustainable forest management practices and under-utilization of its allowable harvest limits. In 2022, only about 60% of the sustainable wood supply was harvested, and less than 0.4% of forest area was affected annually, indicating room to increase production of value-added wood products like CLT without compromising forest health. The article highlights opportunities to improve yield through Indigenous partnerships, sustainable
energycarbon-balanceforestry-supply-chaincross-laminated-timbersustainable-forestryemissions-reductionclean-energyFrom Harvest To Housing: CLT Locks Away More Carbon Than It Emits - CleanTechnica
The article from CleanTechnica discusses the carbon accounting of cross laminated timber (CLT) and its potential as a carbon-negative building material. CLT stores significant amounts of carbon absorbed by trees during growth, locking it into building structures for as long as they stand. Although emissions occur throughout the CLT lifecycle—from harvesting and transport to drying, adhesive production, and assembly—the amount of carbon stored in the wood far exceeds these emissions. For example, producing one cubic meter of CLT emits about 120 kilograms of CO2, while the wood stores nearly a ton of CO2, making CLT net carbon negative from cradle to gate according to Canadian Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). However, current carbon accounting standards often separate stored carbon from emissions rather than netting them, due to uncertainty about the wood's end-of-life fate. If wood is incinerated or landfilled without proper gas management, stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere. Conversely, reuse, recycling, or conversion into stable
energymaterialscarbon-storagecross-laminated-timbersustainable-constructionembodied-carbonclimate-changeHow CLT Displacement Makes Steel & Cement Decarbonization Realistic - CleanTechnica
The article discusses how cross laminated timber (CLT) serves as a critical lever for decarbonizing the traditionally carbon-intensive steel and cement industries by displacing these materials in construction. While CLT is often highlighted for its benefits in faster, more affordable, and lower-carbon housing, its broader impact lies in reducing global demand for cement and steel over time. This substitution effect, especially in mid-rise residential and commercial buildings, contributes to bending demand curves downward, making decarbonization of heavy materials more achievable. The article builds on previous analyses that positioned CLT and modular construction as key solutions to housing shortages and embodied emissions, emphasizing the need for integrated value chains and government policy support to scale CLT adoption. Contrary to conventional projections that assume steady growth in cement and steel demand aligned with GDP and urbanization, the article argues that demand will peak earlier and decline gradually due to several factors: the end of China's infrastructure boom, shifts in advanced economies from expansion to maintenance, efficiency gains, and
energymaterialsdecarbonizationcross-laminated-timbercementsteelconstruction-materialsCanada’s Timber Moment: CLT As The Fastest Lever for Housing, Jobs, & Climate - CleanTechnica
The article highlights Canada’s urgent need to address two converging crises: a chronic housing shortage and the construction sector’s significant greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from embodied carbon in materials like cement and steel. Traditional site-built construction is insufficient to meet the growing demand for housing, with annual completions far below the 500,000 units needed to stabilize affordability. Additionally, the heavy reliance on concrete and steel in mid-rise residential buildings locks in millions of tons of carbon emissions before occupancy, exacerbating climate challenges. Cross laminated timber (CLT), combined with modular manufacturing, is presented as the fastest and most effective solution to simultaneously increase housing supply, create jobs, and reduce carbon emissions. CLT is a renewable, carbon-storing material that enables industrialized, factory-based production of housing components, significantly accelerating construction timelines by 30 to 50%. This approach transforms housing delivery from a labor-intensive craft into a scalable manufacturing process. Initiatives like Mark Carney’s Build Canada Homes plan and the Transition Accelerator’s
energymaterialscross-laminated-timbermodular-constructionembodied-carbonsustainable-housingclimate-changeElectrification Over Insulation: Why "Fabric First" Isn't Climate First - CleanTechnica
The article presents a conversation between Nigel Banks, Technical Director at Octopus Energy, and climate futurist Michael Barnard, focusing on the debate between "fabric first" building insulation strategies versus electrification for climate impact. Barnard, known for analyzing major climate change challenges across sectors like aviation, shipping, and construction materials, emphasizes evaluating solutions based on technical effectiveness, viability, cost, and social acceptance. His work includes decarbonizing building stocks through alternatives to traditional materials and low-carbon heating and cooling methods. During the discussion, Barnard critiques the "fabric first" approach, which prioritizes insulation and building envelope improvements before electrification, arguing that it may not be the most climate-effective strategy. Instead, he suggests that electrification, particularly using renewable energy sources, can offer a more impactful and scalable path to decarbonization. The conversation also touches on the importance of integrating economics, physics, and human behavior in climate solutions, highlighting that some transitions are nonlinear and unpredictable. Barnard’s
energysustainable-energydecarbonizationclimate-changebuilding-materialscross-laminated-timberhydrogen