naturally:wood, a resource of British Columbia’s Forestry Innovation Investment, has released “A Natural Choice: How Wood Contributes to Sustainability’s Triple Bottom Line,” the third CEU course in a three-part series dedicated to examining and comparing the environmental footprint of wood, concrete and steel. Together, the three courses offer architects and specifiers an overview of each material’s performance attributes and explore how wood fits into the overall design of a sustainably built structure.
The three courses comprise:
Designing sustainable buildings requires an understanding of the environmental footprint of each material in the structure. Using research and facts, “Materials Matter” examines the differences between three common building materials—wood, steel and concrete—in terms of their environmental footprint at several stages of the life-cycle process, including raw resource extraction, manufacturing and transportation. Responsible procurement, sustainability and community issues also are discussed.
The second course delves even deeper by exploring how wood, concrete and steel have an environmental impact on building construction, operation and end of life. This article explains the differences between these three materials in terms of basic characteristics and material properties, performance during the building operations phase, and sustainability factors including carbon footprint and material reuse.
By examining how wood contributes to a project’s environmental bottom line, the final course in the series provides a broader view of the meaning of sustainability, while offering specific examples of rating systems and defining green design. BD+C
Related Stories
| Aug 8, 2013
Vertegy spins off to form independent green consultancy
St. Louis-based Vertegy has announced the formation of Vertegy, LLC, transitioning into an independent company separate from the Alberici Enterprise. The new company was officially unveiled Aug. 1, 2013
| Aug 5, 2013
Top Retail Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Callison, Stantec, Gensler top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest retail architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the United States.
| Aug 5, 2013
Top Retail Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Henderson Engineers top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest retail engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Aug 5, 2013
Retail market shows signs of life [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Retail rentals and occupancy are finally on the rise after a long stretch in the doldrums.
| Aug 5, 2013
Top Retail Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Shawmut, Whiting-Turner, PCL top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest retail contractor and construction management firms in the United States.
| Aug 2, 2013
Michael Baker Corp. agrees to be acquired by Integrated Mission Solutions
Michael Baker Corporation (“Baker”) (NYSE MKT:BKR) announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Integrated Mission Solutions, LLC (“IMS”), an affiliate of DC Capital Partners, LLC (“DC Capital”).
| Jul 31, 2013
Hotel, retail sectors bright spots of sluggish nonresidential construction market
A disappointing recovery of the U.S. economy is limiting need for new nonresidential building activity, said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker in the AIA's semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast, released today. As a result, AIA reduced its projections for 2013 spending to 2.3%.
| Jul 30, 2013
Better planning and delivery sought for VA healthcare facilities
Making Veterans Administration healthcare projects “better planned, better delivered” is the new goal of the VA’s Office of Construction and Facilities Management.
| Jul 30, 2013
Healthcare designers get an earful about controlling medical costs
At the current pace, in 2020 the U.S. will spend $4.2 trillion a year on healthcare; unchecked, waste would hit $1.2 trillion. Yet “waste” is keeping a lot of poorly performing hospitals in business, said healthcare facility experts at the recent American College of Healthcare Architects/AIA Academy of Architecture for Health Summer Leadership Summit in Chicago.
| Jul 30, 2013
Top Healthcare Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
HDR, HKS, Cannon top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest healthcare architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.