In meaner climate, building cleaner and greener doesn’t mean weaker
Experts say wood is perfectly capable of withstanding the elements in New England.
There’s a good chance your perception of sustainable building amid climate change was shaped by a fairy tale, and you probably didn’t even realize it.
Cécile Faraud, the technical lead for clean construction at C40 Cities — a nonprofit that works with cities across the globe to address and mitigate climate change — said misconceptions about sustainable building materials are hindering the practice from becoming mainstream.
“As kids, most of us read ‘[The] Three Little Pigs,’ and what does it say? Straw and timber will get you eaten by a wolf, and you need bricks to protect you from danger,” Faraud said. “Many people live with that and never question it.”
C40 works with 97 cities — including Boston — across six continents to address climate change through a variety of methods, from urban design and architecture to food. Faraud and her team assert that sustainable building materials like timber are quite capable of standing up to the elements — whether it’s the “I’ll huff and I’ll puff” of the Big Bad Wolf or the high-speed winds of a Massachusetts nor’easter.
Sara Kudra, the affordable housing director at Dream Collaborative — a Boston-based, minority-owned architecture firm that strives to create inclusive and equitable housing — said going green doesn’t mean sacrificing comfort or durability because building codes demand that all materials meet the same requirements.
“Sustainable and low embodied-carbon [labels] do not in any way indicate that the material is compromised,” Kudra said. “It’s just using an alternate method or technology that’s not so harmful to the planet.”
Lowering fossil fuel usage is part of the Wu administration’s effort to lower citywide carbon emissions. While the city makes well-publicized pushes for cleaner transportation and home energy, it also is taking quieter steps toward sustainable building — including a newly approved building code that requires eco-friendly updates like solar panels to be installed in buildings with new gas line connections.
There’s a reason the push for sustainable building is a more difficult one. Faraud said this is because many people are unaware of just how much emission construction creates.
“The first challenge we have is our misconception about the [construction] sector,” Faraud said. “There is a general lack of awareness that the [construction] sector contributes massively to the climate crisis, to the biodiversity crisis, and to the housing crisis.”
She added that lobbyists for fossil fuel and concrete companies also have contributed to the public perception that sustainable materials are weaker.
When concerns about the competence of sustainable building materials are raised, experts like Faraud and architect Robin Seidel noted that people used straw and timber before concrete was even invented. The first documented use of concrete was in 6500 B.C.; for thatch that’s as early as 7800 B.C.
Seidel, who specializes in urban resilience and sustainable design, said homes in New England must be able to combat high winds, rapid rainfall, and heavy snow, which threaten roofs, windows, and siding — and that sustainable materials like wood have done so for centuries.
Timber is a relatively inexpensive building material that holds up well over time and is plentiful in New England, according to Michael Fiorillo, the director of sustainable design at Boston Architectural College. The material’s locality lowers transportation costs and emissions, making it more sustainable than concrete.
‘There is a general lack of awareness that the [construction] sector contributes massively to the climate crisis, to the biodiversity crisis, and to the housing crisis.’
Cécile Faraud
Fiorillo said a timber building can last as long as any other one if properly designed, constructed, and maintained. Like Faraud and Kudra, he stressed that sustainable building materials are just as structurally sound as carbon-intensive ones.
“Normally, we associate concrete and steel with the structural framework for high-rise buildings,” he said. “Now, we’re able to build 15- and 20-story buildings out of wood.”
Because sustainability and resilience vary by location, an all-timber building would not be the best fit for a flood-prone area like the American South. Seidel said resilience architecture and sustainability can be compromises; for example, a flood-prone region could meet its needs sustainably by building the lowest level using concrete and the upper levels with wood.
While sustainable construction is important, experts emphasize the necessity of rehabilitating existing buildings.
According to Colin Booth, who works with construction management companies as a principal architect at Stack + Co, updating buildings to improve their performance also makes them more sustainable overall. This win-win situation provides even more reason to use clean materials.
In a house, Booth’s environmentally conscious approach can be as simple as a double-stud wall with dense-packed cellulose for insulation — something “cheap to use, easy to do, and tough to screw up,” he said.
As a bonus, Booth said, green building often provides “tremendous bang for your buck.” Better insulation and resilience to weather damage means homeowners spend less on heating, cooling, and repairs. In short, he said, green energy is both the carrot and the stick.
“These are the right decisions that reflect well on your brand and create a more valuable asset because it’s more future-proof,” Booth said. “You’re going to have a more valuable asset because it’s greener.”
Massachusetts weather poses challenges for all architects, but experts concluded that sustainable materials are more than capable of taking the heat — or, more likely, the cold. Booth said that, when it comes time to face the elements, the most successful buildings will be the most airtight and well-built.
“We will always be New England architects trying to keep water out of our buildings,” he said. “If you’re doing it right … the result should be a more robust, resilient building.”
Vivi Smilgius is a real estate correspondent for Boston.com. She can be reached at [email protected].
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