New Zealand’s Wood Processors Association (WPA) has given its backing to the government’s plans to include embodied energy use in its Building Code.
According to the WPA, New Zealand’s plentiful amount of timber can allow the country’s construction industry to reduce its impact on the environment thanks to “lower carbon emissions than the manufacture of other materials such as steel, concrete or aluminium”.
“Embodied energy is a critical element of a building product’s environmental footprint – factoring it into the Building Code is a very positive initiative,” said WPA chairman Dave Anderson. “Wood is a tremendously versatile product and the opportunities for greater use of wood products in our buildings is huge.”
Mr Anderson added that radiata pine and Douglas fir products could become more commonplace across New Zealand’s building industry if embodied energy use was given a prominent place in the Building Code.
