Energy Efficiency
A wood building is easier to insulate; less conductive than steel and concrete
Energy efficiency is one of the central goals of green building. As much as one third of the energy produced in North America is used to heat, cool and operate buildings, much of it in the form of non-renewable fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas. Burning fossil fuels releases large amounts of greenhouse gases – so the issue of climate change has made reduction a priority. Benefits also include reduced costs.
Wood helps to minimize energy consumption in several ways. In terms of embodied energy, which includes the energy required to extract, process, manufacture, transport, construct and maintain a material or product, life cycle assessment studies show that wood significantly outperforms steel and concrete.
One study, conducted by the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM), compared the environmental impact of homes framed with wood and steel in Minneapolis and wood and concrete in Atlanta – the framing types most common to each city. According to the report, the homes framed in steel and concrete would require 17% and 16% more embodied energy from extraction through maintenance than their wood-framed counterparts.
Wood also has better insulating properties – 400 times better than steel and 15 times better than concrete. Wood’s cellular structure contains air pockets, which limit its ability to conduct heat and help to minimize the energy needed for heating and cooling. Concrete and steel are solid throughout and, as a result, facilitate heat loss in many climates and increase energy consumption.