Greenhouse emissions

In June the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Greenhouse Accounting released findings of a study into greenhouse emissions associated with manufacture of different building materials.

The CRC found that the manufacture of a plantation pine frame for a standard 4-bedroom house (180 sqm) generated 0.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared to 2.7 tonnes to manufacture steel framing for the same house. The difference, 2.3 tonnes, equates roughly to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by an average car travelling 8000 kilometres.

Embodied energy

Timber has been found to have lower levels of “embodied energy” other building materials (concrete, steel and aluminium, for example). Embodied energy is a measure used to assess the total energy input associated with a given material. This includes the energy required to manufacture, transport and install the material.

Material	Fossil fuel energy MJ/kg)	Fossil fuel energy (MJ/m³)
Rough sawn Timber	1.5	750
Steel	35	288,000
Concrete	2	4800
Aluminum	485	1,000,000

A research report “Environmental Properties of Timber”, commissioned by the Forest & Wood Products Research & Development Corporation in 1996

Additional benefits

Much of the increasing area of land being dedicated to plantations is marginal land with limited potential for other agricultural use. Once established, new softwood plantations assist in rejuvenating their environs, easing soil erosion and salinity pressures.

Australia's State of the Forests Report 2003, released by the Bureau of Rural Sciences last August, indicates that commercial timber plantations have increased by an average 87,000 hectares each year for the past five years. Land area under commercial plantation in Australia currently stands at 1.6 million hectares, which the industry has committed to doubling within 15 years. Some 164 million hectares – 21% of Australia's land mass – is classified as forested land