The future usage of wood. Timber as a sustainable material in construction

Scientific Study from the year 2018 in the subject Engineering - Civil Engineering, grade: 1,0, language: English, abstract: Sustainability has become a common trend as a lot of sustainable solutions have emerged within the last years in many different areas. The main principle can be claimed as balancing the needs of our current generation without any negative impact on our future generations. In construction, however, sustainability does not receive as much attention as in other fields, which is why this paper will focus on the role of timber as a sustainable construction material. The US housing market shows an increasing demand, which leads to the consumption of more construction material. The managed forest areas in the USA must be increased to cover the future needs and preserve wood as a sustainable material. An estimation of the required timber resources for a building will be examined not only to estimate the need of new building material in the future, but also the required forest stock. The importance of timber will be shown by comparison to other building materials. Weighing the pros and cons of timber as a sustainable material compared to others, its implementation in the context of taller buildings and fire resistance will be discussed.