Barriers and opportunities of fast-growing biobased material use in buildings

Abstract

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires immediate and drastic reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A significant contributor to anthropogenic global GHG emissions is the production of building materials. Biobased materials offer the potential to reduce such emissions and could be deployed in the short term. Timber construction has received the main attention from policy and industry. However, the implementation of timber construction at the global scale is constrained by the availability of sustainably managed forest supplies. A viable alternative is fast-growing plants and the use of agricultural waste products. These can be deployed faster and are better aligned to local supplies of biomass and demands from the building sector. Fast-growing materials are generally able to achieve net-cooling impacts much faster due to their short rotation periods. The GHG emissions due to the production of biogenic building material can be compensated by regrowth of the new (replacement) plant and, overall, this will absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. A range of biogenic materials can be promoted and used as insulation materials and structural materials. Policy relevance Materials play an important part of the transition to a low carbon society, especially as many existing construction materials have large amounts of ‘embodied carbon’ in their manufacture. Given the need to rapidly reduce GHG emissions, public policies can promote a rapid transition to low carbon biogenic materials. The use of fast-growing biogenic materials for use in construction products can create carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative products. The use of biogenic materials in construction materials delivers larger GHG savings than their use in other sectors (e.g. biofuels). The use of these materials can be scaled up quickly due to their short rotation period. An integrated policy approach is needed that provides synergy between the energy, industry, housing and agriculture sectors to encourage the use of biobased materials.