Evaluating Fast-Growing Fibers for Building Decarbonization with Dynamic LCA

Kate Chilton (), Jay Arehart and Hal Hinkle
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Kate Chilton: Global Bamboo Technologies, Inc., Ocala, FL 34472, USA
Jay Arehart: Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Hal Hinkle: Global Bamboo Technologies, Inc., Ocala, FL 34472, USA

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Standard carbon accounting methods and metrics undermine the potential of fast-growing biogenic materials to decarbonize buildings because they ignore the timing of carbon uptake. The consequence is that analyses can indicate that a building material is carbon-neutral when it is not climate-neutral. Here, we investigated the time-dependent effect of using fast-growing fibers in durable construction materials. This study estimated the material stock and flow and associated cradle-to-gate emissions for four residential framing systems in the US: concrete masonry units, light-frame dimensional timber, and two framing systems that incorporate fast-growing fibers (bamboo and Eucalyptus ). The carbon flows for these four framing systems were scaled across four adoption scenarios, Business as Usual, Early-Fast, Late-Slow, and Highly Optimistic, ranging from no adoption to the full adoption of fast-growing materials in new construction within 10 years. Dynamic life cycle assessment modeling was used to project the radiative forcing and global temperature change potential. The results show that the adoption of fast-growing biogenic construction materials can significantly reduce the climate impact of new US residential buildings. However, this study also reveals that highly aggressive, immediate adoption is the only way to achieve net climate cooling from residential framing within this century, highlighting the urgent need to change the methods and metrics decision makers use to evaluate building materials.

Keywords: biogenic carbon; dynamic LCA; life cycle assessment (LCA); bio-based materials; fast-growing; sustainable construction; time value of carbon; decarbonization; building emissions; environmental product declaration (EPD) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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