Introductory Chapter: Timber and Sustainability in Construction

*Giovanna Concu*

## **1. Introduction**

The buildings built in the second half of the last century and in the first decade of this century are characterized by the enormous consumption of energy and natural resources, so that the consumption of natural resources, the production of a considerable amount of waste, and the pollution of air and water are the largest undesirable effects related to the construction industry. Currently, the construction industry consumes annually an average of 40% of resources such as raw materials, water, and energy and produces about 40% of solid waste and pollution. In this context it becomes imperative for the building sector to move towards a sustainable dimension. This is the reason why in recent years a cultural model based on environmental sustainability has developed, involving all sectors of human activity and evidently the construction sector. Building activity is increasingly geared towards respecting, safeguarding, and enhancing the environment, through the design and use of materials and production and management processes based on biocompatibility, energy saving, and the green economy.

The concept of sustainable development was made explicit, for the first time, in a document presented by G.H. Brundtland in a meeting of the World Commission on Environment and Development [1]. The document, better known as the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, found that the critical points and global problems of the environment are essentially due to the great poverty of the south of the world and to the unsustainable production and consumption patterns of the north of the world. The report therefore highlighted the need to implement a strategy capable of integrating the needs of development and the environment. This strategy was defined with the term *sustainable development*, whose precise definition was as follows: *development is sustainable if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs*. This definition contained a new concept relating to sustainable development, able to reconcile aspects such as expectations of social well-being, economic growth, maintenance of natural resources, and respect for the environment. To guarantee all this, it is necessary to fulfill ethical principles and moral responsibility, touching on fundamental elements for eco-sustainability such as maintaining existing resources and the planet's environmental balance. Nowadays there are environmental problems deriving from the poor way in which entrepreneurial, social, economic, and political systems have been designed, for which a notable change in the design concept is fundamental, in such a way as to allow a better coexistence with the ecological and social systems on which we depend. In the construction industry, the current challenge is to address these issues using environmentally friendly materials and construction processes, fulfilling the social and economic functions of the building in full respect of the environment.
