(1)

Wood is a Bio renewable resource with plentiful applications and a variety of uses which make it a valuable resource. The main wood products we think of are paper and lumber. The “greenness” of these products can be affected by a great many factors. One big factor is how the forests the wood is sourced from are grown and harvested. Wood can be harvested through clear-cutting, shelterwood, selection harvest, and seed trees, all of which have their pros and cons (2). Clearcutting is the most effective way to harvest wood in one go however has some of the worst environmental impacts. Clearcutting foresting leads to the destruction of habits, can impact water quality, and leads to large amounts of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere (3). Shelterwood cutting leaves rows of trees to provide shade for new trees to grow however without the support of neighboring trees the chances of trees falling drastically increase (4). On top of this shelterwood cutting requires machinery to be brought out more often leading to a higher level of soil compaction which can degrade the ecosystem and make it harder for trees to grow (4). This type of cutting does lessen the amount of soil erosion and keeps the area looking nicer, and while it is still extremely damaging to the ecosystem it is better than clear-cutting. Seed trees are similar to shelterwood with similar pros and cons however seed trees are usually used naturally to reforest the area instead of requiring saplings to be brought in of seeds to be planted artificially (5). Selection harvest can be broken into two groups which are group election systems and individual selection systems which are just as they sound, either groups are chosen for harvest or individual trees are chosen (6). While this type of system can take the longest it leaves the forest in the best shape for future harvests, reduces the amount of inputs a farmer might need to add to forests in the other systems, and is also the best environmentally keeping the forest the healthiest it can be while still being used for wood (6).(7)

Production and use of lumber

While you might think lots of wood is wasted when producing lumber as only so many good boards can be made. While only 52% of wood transported to a mill can be used for lumber production functionally 100% of wood is used in a lumber mill, with the remaining 48% being split between pulp production and energy production for the mill (8). While the plain planks of wood have a variety of uses even more use can be found in engineered wood products. Engineered wood products allow for more complex shapes, heavier loads, and a longer life than regular wood products (9). Engineered wood products can allow wood buildings to reach hundreds of feet into the air which is not a skyscraper but can be used for a variety of office and residential uses (10). However, adding procedures to the production of wood products only adds to its total environmental impact. Is the wood still a green substitute with these added processes

Is wood a green resource?

The short answer is yes. Wood, no matter how it is cut or if it naturally falls is an inherently carbon-neutral resource. While processing, shipping, building, and using wood emits carbon dioxide the wood itself does not add any additional carbon which it did not pull from the atmosphere. Thanks to this even when additional processes are added to the wood to strengthen it wood is still a greener resource.

When used to replace 58% of concrete and 72% of rebar in an 8360 square meter 12-story apartment building a reduction of 18% of global warming emissions, a 1% decrease in ozone depletion, and a 47% decrease in eutrophication (11). While wood is not perfect it is a much better alternative compared to concrete and steel.