Massive wood material for sustainable building design: the Massiv-Holz-Mauer wall system

In this study, the emissions to air produced using massive wood material in manufacturing of a Massiv-Holz-Mauer (MHM) wall system have been assessed. The results have been compared with a traditional brick wall. The sustainability of materials was determined using the following impact categories: Global Warming Potential (GWP), Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) and Human Toxicity Potential (HTP). Using wood material in building design means to reduce the environmental impact to air until the 57% compared to the use of traditional material as brick. The major contributions to the emissions of the MHM wall production are related to the sawmill process and to the manufacturing of fibreboards, aluminium nails and plasterboard. Furtermore, a displacement factor of 0.53 t CO2eq per ton of oven-dried wood for MHM building system used in place of the brick wall was determined for the considered system boundaries.