A construction material provided and renewable by nature, with predictable performance, that captures carbon from the atmosphere and locks it away for decades, with low energy demand and a feel-good appeal appreciated by almost everyone – that’s treated wood. With such protection, designers have the choice of the foremost renewable and sustainable material.
Wood is part of the bioeconomy, can be sourced responsibly, is a flexible and adaptable material that can be used efficiently, and aligns with the concept of a circular economy. At the end of its life, wood can be reused in an ongoing process of uses, recycling or recovery of energy. Wood is consequently one of the few truly renewable construction materials.
Wood offers a simple way to reduce the CO2 emissions through:
• the carbon sink effect of the forests
• the carbon storage effect of wood products
• substitution for carbon-intensive materials.
SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIOCIDES
Products containing biocides, such as wood preservatives, are a family of products intended to destroy or control harmful or unwanted organisms (such as fungi and insects) that have detrimental effects on the environment, on animals, on humans, their activities, or the products they use or produce. Biocidal products are used in a wide variety of ways by both industrial and professional users, as well as by the public.
Sustainable use can be defined for biocidal products as the objective of reducing the risks and impacts of the use of biocidal products on human health, animal health and the environment. Wood preservatives were among the first biocidal products to be subject to regulation and standardisation in respect of these characteristics and consequently are now accepted as both effective and safe when used correctly and appropriately.
Not only is the production and processing of wood energy-efficient, giving wood products a low carbon footprint, but wood can often be used to substitute other materials like steel, aluminium, concrete or plastics, which require large amounts of energy to produce.
Every cubic metre of wood used as a substitute for other building materials reduces CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by an average of 1.1 tonnes (t). If this is added to the 0.9t of CO2 stored in wood, each cubic metre of wood saves a total of 2.0t of CO2. Based on this, an increase in buildings whose main structural components are made of wood will produce significant CO2 savings, as prescribed by the Kyoto Protocol.
WOOD PROTECTION
In recognising the short life of untreated wood when used in exposed applications and conditions, e.g. agriculture, marine and freshwater areas, structures and fencing, and the inconvenience and cost of failure, humankind has from antiquity attempted to prolong the life of wood. The discovery of the biological causes of wood damage and decay, coinciding with the start of the Industrial Revolution, led to the development of effective treatments. This has culminated in the preservatives and processes available now for many uses of treated wood that meet the health, safety and environmental requirements of today’s regulatory regime.
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