Carbon Impact and Cost of Mass Timber Beam–Column Gravity Systems

Rachel Chaggaris, Shiling Pei, Greg Kingsley and Alexis Feitel
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Rachel Chaggaris: Independent Researcher, 1717 Washington Avenue, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Shiling Pei: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Greg Kingsley: Independent Researcher, 1717 Washington Avenue, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Alexis Feitel: Independent Researcher, 1717 Washington Avenue, Golden, CO 80401, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-23

Abstract: The need to lower the embodied carbon impact of the built environment and sequester carbon over the life of buildings has spurred the growth of mass timber building construction, leading to the introduction of new building types (Types IV-A, B, and C) in the 2021 International Building Code (IBC). The achievement of sustainability goals has been hindered by the perceived first cost assessment of mass timber systems. Optimizing cost is an urgent prerequisite to embodied carbon reduction. Due to a high level of prefabrication and reduction in field labor, the mass timber material volume constitutes a larger portion of total project cost when compared to buildings with traditional materials. In this study, the dollar cost, carbon emitted, and carbon sequestered of mass timber beam–column gravity system solutions with different design configurations was studied. Design parameters studied in this sensitivity analysis included viable building types, column grid dimension, and building height. A scenario study was conducted to estimate the economic viability of tall wood buildings with respect to land costs. It is concluded that, while Type III building designations are the most economical for lower building heights, the newly introduced Type IV subcategories remain competitive for taller structures while providing a potentially significant embodied carbon benefit.

Keywords: mass timber; cost; IBC building type; tall wood building; gravity frame; embodied carbon; biogenic carbon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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