By Mia Levenson
Over the past few months I have been researching Mass Timber as a sustainable building solution in coordination with The Office of Sustainability and the Environment at the City of Santa Monica. The building and construction sector accounts for roughly 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making the switch to materials such as mass timber important to consider when working towards the reduction of local emissions. Mass timber is a large, solid, engineered wood product that can be used as an alternative to steel and concrete buildings. which has many environmental, safety, health, and convenience benefits. With the utilization of mass timber, there is a 43% reduction in carbon emissions compared to traditional building as there is a lower embodied carbon in both the product and construction stage.
Mass timber has been prominent throughout Europe and Canada for the past 15 years as a less carbon intensive building model. Recently, California has recognized mass timber as a building strategy in the approved California Building Code. There are various finished and ongoing mass timber projects already in the Los Angeles Area (Chinatown, Los Angeles pictured above), demonstrating that mass timber is a possible solution. With the rise in awareness of mass timber buildings, Santa Monica will be able to implement mass timber buildings as a way of climate mitigation.