The impact of human construction on the environment has become a concern for quite a long time. Fortunately, wood is an environmentally friendly material. It is sustainable, renewable, recyclable, and long-lasting.
Wood is renewable. It comes and grows from nature, unlike other building materials that cannot be grown in nature. The production of wood can be repeated indefinitely because it can be harvested and replanted multiple times.
Wood is recyclable, unlike many other building materials. In fact, wood is the only recyclable building material. Recycled wood has values, sometimes even higher than newly fabricated wood. The market for recycled wood (also known as reclaimed wood) is very ripe.
Wood has a unique property, that it traps carbon within itself. To sustain their growth, trees absorb carbon dioxide. It means that the carbon is trapped inside the wood.
If the wood is allowed to naturally rot on the ground, the carbon returned to the ground, instead of the air. Thus, wood helps prevent the increase of greenhouse gas.
Moreover, the replanting of trees increases the amount of carbon trapped in it. The wood production cycle (harvesting and replanting) is an ecologically advantageous process.
The process of carbon trapping inside a tree is the inverse of the production of other building materials, such as steel, brick, glass, and concrete. Other building materials are releasing carbon into the air, therefore increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
Other than its environmentally friendly nature, wood is a strong and reliable material that can compete with other, synthetic materials. It is also a flexible, environmentally friendly material that can be used for many purposes.
Wood’s thermal and electrical insulation properties are very valuable. It has acoustic dampening or amplifying properties, based on how it is oriented. Wood, as a building material, is easily maintained. Moreover, its great variety makes wood a feast for the eyes, whichever type of wood is chosen.
In all standards of measurement, wood is an amazing building material. It is mechanically strong, versatile, and sustainable in multiple ways. Using wood as a building material is economically and environmentally viable. That is why Kayu Lapis Indonesia is dedicated to creating quality wood because quality wood means a better future.
References:
https://www.walnutoutlet.net/wood-the-environmentally-friendly-building-material/
https://www.ny-engineers.com/blog/wood-a-sustainable-construction-material