Larch Lab's Michael Eliason was quoted in an Inside Climate News piece summarizing recent research on the potential carbon savings of Mass Timber cities.
One of the ways to [mitigate carbon at scale] is to be incredibly resource-efficient when designing buildings. Limiting sprawl can also play a significant role. The IPCC’s Working Group III report on mitigation highlighted that compact, walkable cities are some of the most effective means of mitigating carbon emissions. Mid-rise timber cities, such as those studied in this report, with resource efficient and sustainably sourced timber do exactly that.
Reporter Bob Berwyn’s article, ‘Timber Cities Might Decarbonize the World,’ summarizes recent research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research showing that proper land management and the construction of compact, walkable cities built with mid-rise mass timber buildings, could reduce carbon emissions by up to 100 gigatons through 2100. Eliason and his colleague, RDH Climate Change Specialist Monte Paulsen, also indicate that wood construction alone wasn’t a feasible solution – decarbonization needs to be happening across the construction industry.
Larch Lab’s Eliason has been working on projects incorporating Mass Timber since 2003 – including the first dowel laminated timber building in Washington State. Along with potential ecological benefits, Mass Timber offers a number of others including reduced construction timelines, tighter construction, quieter constructions sites. It also pairs incredibly well with high performance standards such as Passivhaus. If you are interested in discussing how to build climate adaptive buildings and districts, please contact us.