10 WOOD RESEARCH MUNICH 2010:

Building with wood = active climate protection, forest

and wood = effective carbon storage (2) Munich:

Holzforschung München, page 6

11 RUETER, S. (2012) – Life cycle assessment baseline

data for building products made of wood. (1)

Braunschweig: Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute,

Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas,

Forests and Fisheries

Carbon storage wood

In the forest

During photosynthesis, trees extract CO

2

from the atmosphere. They form

their plant mass almost exclusively from air and solar energy and produce

oxygen in the process. The carbon dioxide (CO

2

) absorbed from the air is

bound in the form of carbon (C) in the wood. Sustainable forest management

and selective harvesting increases the growth of the trees — the wood

supply in the forest grows.

If the growth of the trees exceeds the weather-

ing of deadwood (formation of CO

2

through bac-

terial decomposition of wood) and harvesting,

more CO

2

is bound than released. If this ma-

nagement of the forest does not take place, the

weathering of the unused wood releases more

CO

2

than would be stored in the form of used

wood.

10

In furniture

If the carbon storage in wood products grows, more CO

2

is removed from

the atmosphere than is released through the weathering or thermal utili-

sation of wood. The use of wood in durable, repairable furniture (or even

buildings) prolongs this storage effect. Furthermore, the use of wood as an

alternative material to iron or aluminium additionally reduces emissions. In

addition, the substitution of fossil resources using wood as a more renewa-

ble source of raw materials. 11

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