Abstract
As the population continues to grow in China’s urban settings, the building sector contributes to increasing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Concrete and steel are the two most common construction materials used in China and account for 60% of the carbon emissions among all building components. Mass timber is recognized as an alternative building material to concrete and steel, characterized by better environmental performance and unique structural features. Nonetheless, research associated with mass timber buildings is still lacking in China. Quantifying the emission mitigation potentials of using mass timber in new buildings can help accelerate associated policy development and provide valuable references for developing more sustainable constructions in China. This study used a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to compare the environmental impacts of a baseline concrete building and a functionally equivalent timber building that uses cross-laminated timber as the primary material. A cradle-to-gate LCA model was developed based on onsite interviews and surveys collected in China, existing publications, and geography-specific life cycle inventory data. The results show that the timber building achieved a 25% reduction in global warming potential compared to its concrete counterpart. The environmental performance of timber buildings can be further improved through local sourcing, enhanced logistics, and manufacturing optimizations.
Highlights
The building and construction industry is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions and is responsible for 36% of the global energy consumption [1]
The requirement of metal stud and rebar is significantly higher in the concrete building than that of the timber building; for instance, 25,700 kg of rebar is required in the concrete building’s foundation, while only 5197 kg of rebar is required in the timber building
The results of this study suggest that the mass timber building has a lower global warming impact than the concrete building in all life cycle stages evaluated in this study, despite the longer traveling distance required for the raw materials used to produce Cross-laminated timber (CLT)
Summary
The building and construction industry is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions and is responsible for 36% of the global energy consumption [1]. It has become increasingly crucial to reduce the environmental impact associated with the building sector, including using alternative construction materials to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. The use of wood in buildings as alternative materials can help mitigate climate change since wood-based structural materials have a lower carbon footprint than their non-wood counterparts, such as steel and concrete. As the most populated country globally, China has experienced rapid urbanization for decades, and the building sector contributed a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions [7,8]. Most of the buildings in China use traditional building materials that are usually energy-intensive. Concrete and steel account for over 60% of the total
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