CARBON NEUTRAL ARCHITECTURE: LCA METHOD "FROM THE CRADLE TO THE CRADLE" FOR THE "ZERO EMISSIONS" DESIGN OF TIMBER BUILDINGS

The research aims to investigate the potential of using wood in the construction industry, a natural and renewable raw material, whose main property is CO2 storage, as it consists of half carbon: one m3 of wood absorbs about one ton of CO2. Therefore, if wood is used as a building material or wood product, the carbon remains absorbed for the entire life of the product. A first phase will be addressed relating to practical work in which a methodology structured according to the LCA approach (UNI EN 15978:2011) will be outlined, with particular reference to the C2C phase (from Cradle to Cradle), with the aim of eliminating emissions from buildings with a predominantly timber construction system. A model will therefore be developed that provides, with respect to an initial data, appropriate strategic actions for the reduction of the quantity of emissions, estimated by incidence of "carbon credit" for each phase of the life cycle. The methodological approach outlined in the first phase will be applied to two timber buildings (completed works) with two different construction systems: a load-bearing structure in CLT panels and a framed laminated timber structure. In the third and final phase, an analysis and careful processing of the results obtained will follow. The aim of this study is to highlight the potential of timber construction systems, of their profitable and conscious use, whose primary objective is the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions, in the perspective of total emission neutrality.