This ABC podcast architect Michael Green unpacks how ‘new’ wood is cheaper, safer, and stronger than steel and concrete for making even Skyscrapers! One cubic meter of wood stores 1 ton of Carbon. Imagine fast-growth trees of 10 to 15 years sequestering all that Carbon to house the next 3 billion people who need homes!
- He uses Aspen and Birch trees that are shredded and the fibres glued together
- (Note: glue can come from our rubbish tips!)
- Trees are only 10 to 15 years old when harvested
- Apart from the foundations, wood can replace the use of steel and concrete in buildings and becomes the new structural backbone of the skyscraper!
- Huge wood beams are now 20m long by 2.5m wide by 85mil thick
- Wood weights half as much as concrete which improves the strength of the building in an earthquake
- Wood buildings have survived earthquakes better than heavy steel and concrete buildings
- Can lead to an enormous reforesting business worldwide, and an enormous sequestration of Co2!
- As a material the wood is more expensive but …
- It so drastically reduces the labour costs associated with buildings as it can go up so much faster.
- EG: It takes a week to pour a concrete floor in a skyscraper before the next floor can be constructed. Michael Green has seen wood skyscrapers that can build 6 floors a day!
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