TDUK SupplyingTimber Issue 8 DIGITAL - Magazine - Page 66
THE "FOREST PUMP"
In an extract from his new book Timber! Paul Brannen
explains why timber really is a wonder material when it
comes to carbon storage and substitution - and why
cutting down trees can be a good thing.
TIMBER KNOWLEDGE
We have been building houses from wood for thousands of years...
Most European cities still have
a few timber-framed buildings
dating back 300 years or more.
In the UK, York is a good
example. Here you will 昀椀nd The
Shambles – a street of medieval
timber-framed buildings with
a strong Harry Potter feel to
them. When these buildings
were erected they had only one
purpose – that of providing
shelter.
However, they were also safely
storing the carbon that the
timber had sequestrated (soaked
up) when it was growing as a
tree in the forest. Trees absorb
SUPPLYING TIMBER
carbon dioxide (CO2) and release
oxygen (O2) – holding onto the
carbon that was in the carbon
dioxide. For every dry tonne of
manufactured timber around 1.8
tonnes of CO2 is removed from the
atmosphere.
Chopping the tree down does
not release the carbon, it remains
stored in the wood. However, if
we burn the wood, we do release
the carbon into the atmosphere,
where it joins up with oxygen to
form CO2 – the very gas whose
e昀昀ects we are trying to mitigate,
as its relentless increase is
causing the climate to change...
66
SPRING 2025
