Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Ciudades Sostenibles

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Housing
    • Sustainable development
    • Urban heritage
    • Smart cities
    • Metropolitan governance
    • Urban economics
    • Urban society
    • Cities LAB
    • Cities Network
  • Spanish

Wood as a housing construction material: what are its benefits?

June 16, 2022 por Veronica Adler - Daniel Peciña-López 3 Comments

Este artículo está también disponible en / This post is also available in: Spanish


Wood has been one of the most used building materials since the beginning of history. Although the use of steel, concrete or iron has brought significant advances to construction, wood has never lost its popularity. In fact, the number of wooden buildings around the world may surprise many readers. Did you know that countries such as Japan, Scotland or the United States are leaders in wood construction? Indeed, the proportion of new housing construction, both in whole and in part, can exceed 60% in Japan, 70% in Scotland, and 85% in the United States.

Despite of this popularity in other parts of the world, in Latin America and the Caribbean it is common to associate the construction of wooden houses with projects of low quality, low budget or small size. This stereotype is not correct. In recent decades, the wood industry has evolved thanks to the development of new technologies that allows the general use of this material in construction. For example, between 2008 and 2020, more than 50 wooden buildings with heights between 7 and 24 stories were built around the world. That’s more than 70 meters high!

three buildings made of wood and a blue sky in the background

Today we start a series of two blog posts in which some of the factors that have positioned wood as the optimal construction material of the 21st century are exposed. Its use will undoubtedly bring many benefits for the development of the region.

Why is wood the best material for housing construction in the 21st century?

In short, for its productivity and impact on the environment.

According to data from the United Nations (UN), the world population is expected to grow by 25% in the next 30 years, going from 7.7 billion people in 2020 to 9.7 billion in 2050. This translates into an increase in demand for resources, especially housing. In this sense, the World Bank estimates that, by 2030, the housing deficit will reach 240 million housing units. How countries deal with this deficit will be critical to ensuring global sustainable development.

When dealing with this great demand for housing construction, the sector must be responsible with the preservation of the environment. And it is that the construction sector has a double impact on the environment:

  • The sector is responsible for a third of the world’s waste generation, whether produced by construction or demolition
  • Housing construction represents 36% of final energy use in the world and 39% of CO2EQ globally
piles of wood and a background of a house made of wood

According to a 2022 study, there are six sectors that could cut global emissions by at least half by 2030; construction is one of them. The manufacture of houses with low carbon footprint materials is part of the solution to this problem and wood could be one of the options used.

Environmental benefits of wood construction

Wood construction has multiple benefits in environmental terms. Among them, we will dress some of the most relevant:

  1. It is the only renewable and recyclable construction material. If the forest is managed sustainably, the trees can be a renewable resource. In addition, wood also requires less energy to be processed.
  2. It can absorb carbon. Wood accumulates large amounts of CO2 and its industrialization generates lower greenhouse gas emissions than other materials. For example, producing a ton of wood generates 33 kilos of net emissions, compared to 264 kilos for cement and 694 kilos for steel.
  3. Produce less waste. The use of wood generates less waste and speeds up construction times
  4. Greater energy efficiency. Wood contributes to energy efficiency due to its ability to conduct heat, which makes it a better insulator than other materials. In fact, it is 400 times better than steel and 15 times better than concrete.
Wood piles and a roof made of wood

In short, processed wood construction not only adds value by serving as an active absorbent of CO2, but also significantly reduces emissions linked to the industrial construction process. In addition, in this process costs and possible emissions are reduced because it is more efficient in terms of energy consumption.

Which technical benefits does wood provide in construction?

In addition to the aforementioned advantages, there are also reasons why wood is a first-class construction element:

  • Great flexibility and low weight. It is an optimal material to resist earthquakes and reduce the volume of foundations.
  • High insulating capacity. It is capable of insulating heat up to six times more than brick, 15 times more than concrete and 400 times more than steel
  • Fire resistance. In large-volume pieces, it has high resistance to fire and takes longer to collapse than steel structures.
  • Construction speed and cost reduction. By offering the possibility of working on dry sites, it increases construction speed and lowers costs

Wood construction in Uruguay

In the next blog we will address the situation of this sector in Uruguay. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has developed a participatory process with all the actors involved in the sector in this country. This initiative will allow the implementation of a roadmap of prioritized and governed actions with multisectoral and multilevel actors to overcome the barriers that have not made the development of this sector possible.

Although the forestry industry is highly relevant in Uruguay, where it contributes 4% of the national GDP (USD 2.1 billion), the wood housing construction sector is in its infancy. For this reason, and given that the restrictions Uruguay faces are probably similar to those of other Latin American and Caribbean countries, it will serve as an example to illustrate the situation in our region in the next blog.

Meanwhile, we invite you to write your opinion in the comments section, and of course, do not hesitate to share this blog on your social networks!

 If you enjoyed this blog, sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter with all the blogs, news, and events from the IDB’s Housing and Urban Development Division

Text based on “Hoja de Ruta para el Fomento de la Vivienda Social en Madera en Uruguay”, by Juan José Ugarte, Andrés Sierra and Karen Codriansky; Inter-American Development Bank and Ministry of Housing and Territorial Planning of Uruguay


Filed Under: Housing Tagged With: climate change, sustainability, sustainable housing

Veronica Adler

Bachelor in Economics Master in Public Policies of the University Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires Argentina. She has worked at the Inter-American Development Bank since 2003. Between 2003 and 2008, she worked from Washington DC in Colombia and Venezuela, with programs and projects of Housing of Urban and Rural Social Interest, Neighborhood Improvement and Improvement of Degraded Areas, as well as in Reform and modernization projects of public entities such as Citizen Service Centers, Improvement of General Accounting Offices and Statistical Institutes. Since 2008, she has been assigned to the Bank's Country Office in Uruguay, working mainly with Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia in projects related to the economic development of subnational sectors, neighborhood improvement, subnational public infrastructure and revitalization of degraded urban areas. She has also co-led the implementation of the Emerging and Sustainable Cities initiative in Montevideo and has been part of the on-site support group for the implementation of the ICES initiative in Chile and some cities in Argentina. Currently she coordinates the actions of the division for the countries of the Southern Cone.

Daniel Peciña-López

Daniel Peciña-Lopez is a specialist in international affairs, development and communication. He has more than 10 years of professional experience in diplomatic delegations, and international organizations in cities such as Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Madrid, Mexico City and Hong Kong, among others. Daniel is Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, Master of Science from the University of Oxford Brookes and Licenciado from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 2010 Daniel received the First National Award for Excellence in Academic Performance, from the Ministry of Education (Government of Spain) for being the university level student with the highest average GPA score in the country. He currently works as an external relations/communication consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Vintage & Specialty Wood says

    December 20, 2022 at 6:18 am

    Great topic, indeed! I enjoyed reading your blog because your writing is detailed and informative. Wood is beneficial for making house construction and for high-quality furniture. Thank you for sharing excellent content. Great post!

    Reply
  2. Luke Smith says

    January 4, 2023 at 12:54 pm

    It’s great that you mentioned how wood is an optimal material to resist earthquakes and reduce the volume of foundations. We are about to build a new house for my sister and we are now gathering all the materials for it. We would surely need some wood, so we should stop by a lumber yard this weekend.

    Reply
  3. Log Home Shoppe says

    February 20, 2023 at 11:15 am

    your blog is very informative and good. I really like your article

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Description

Este es el blog de la División de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano (HUD) del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. Súmate a la conversación sobre cómo mejorar la sostenibilidad y calidad de vida en ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe.

Search

Recent Posts

  • Financing Green Cities in Latin America and The Caribbean
  • How does the IDB Group support the development of women in cities?
  • Housing as Home: The Less Explored Side of Urban Development
  • Beyond the Urban/Rural Territorial Categories
  • Improving neighborhoods in Paraguay through social engagement strategies

¡Síguenos en nuestras redes!

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Derechos de autor © 2023 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
X
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT