Sustainable Bioenergy, Farms, and Forests - January 4, 2019

Timber Cities – High-Rise Wood Construction Poised to Grow Thanks to New Codes

Wood is an attractive building material as it is a light, renewable material. Its use not only lowers carbon emissions from the building sector but also provides long-term carbon storage—turning buildings into carbon sinks. Wood’s use as a green building material has been somewhat limited in cities, as historically, wood has been used to build homes and smaller buildings, referred to as stick frame construction.  However, this is poised to change due to a booming domestic wood construction sector, and recently proposed changes to the International Building Code that will allow construction of ‘tall wood’ buildings.

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Headlines: 
1. Trump Issues Executive Order on Forest Management
2. Biofuel Hardship Waiver Petitions to EPA Rise to 22 as of Mid-Dec 
3. Corn Ethanol Production Has Minimal Effect on Cropland Use, Study Shows
4. Facing Soil Crisis, US Farmers Look Beyond Corn and Soybeans
5. Transportation Accounts for the Most Energy Use Worldwide—and the U.S. Still Has an Addiction to Cars.
 

 

Upcoming Event:

Reframing Energy for the 21st Century
Greater Energy Productivity Is an Economic Imperative 

Friday, January 11
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Conference Center, Room 130 (first floor)
1020 19th Street NW

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a facilitated discussion on how we can make our economy much more energy-efficient, to generate wealth and combat climate change. In 2018, the 329 million residents of the United States spent more than $1.1 trillion to meet their many energy needs. Current projections suggest those expenditures—whether to light and cool homes, power business enterprises, or enable daily commutes—may triple to $3.4 trillion (in nominal dollars) by the year 2050. Shockingly, a huge share of that spending is wasted. As detailed in a variety of recent studies, the U.S. economy may only be 16 percent energy-efficient. In other words, an estimated 84 percent of the energy resources consumed within American communities are wasted.

 

 

To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at bioenergy@eesi.org

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