Embodied carbon message starts to sink in

When the Innovation and Growth Team on Low Carbon Construction at the Department for Business makes it a major issue, when the UK Green Building Council hosts a packed out seminar, when academics in the field keep saying so, it’s worth listening. About what?

Embodied carbon!

Of course we in the timber industry have been going on for years about the wonderful and unique property of trees to absorb carbon dioxide, keep the carbon and store it in the wood, and give us back the oxygen we breathe.

It seems that others are now beginning to listen. Two important points have recently sunk in.

Firstly, all the talk about energy efficiency has seemingly been around houses with a long life, making people think that lifetime energy efficiency is the key. Most other buildings have a much shorter life and therefore the proportionate importance of the embodied energy is far greater.

Secondly, the embodied energy, the carbon cost, is being spent now as the building is constructed. It is now we need to be taking action on climate change and therefore the impact of embodied energy is far greater.

But the last thing the industry should do is sit back, rub its hands and say “told you so”. We have to persuade architects, designers, engineers and builders that wood is the solution, because other materials are innovating all the time. We need to do the same whether it’s in logistics, skills or products.

The other area for innovation has to be in refurbishment. Most of our housing stock for the next 50 years is already built. And most of it is energy inefficient. If the industry can come up with relatively cheap, easily installed, energy-saving products, then this is a market that will reap rich rewards.

You guys come up with the goods and those of us representing you through the new Wood Co₂ts Less campaign will help persuade your customers to buy them.

John White is chief executive of The Timber Trade Federation.