Preface

The theme of environmental sustainability is highly topical and requires a rethinking of the consumer models to which we have been accustomed to date. All sectors of the productive world are affected by this change of paradigm, and the construction sector, which alone accounts for 40 percent of resource consumption and environmental pollution, plays an important role. Focusing attention on building materials, the trend is to aim for short chain and circular building schemes, pushing production and use of natural materials that are locally produced, recyclable and renewable. In this perspective, a great reassessment is reserved for timber, which offers all the aforementioned qualities in addition to being a resistant, comfortable and economical material. The further impulse to the spread of timber in buildings goes through different phases, such as the optimization of forest management, the implementation of an effective production chain, the information of operators about the opportunities related to the use of this material, and the indispensable phases of scientific research and technological development in order to guarantee best performance.

This book provides insight into the spread of the use of timber in the construction industry, presenting some thoughts on important aspects of the topic such as:


The themes are addressed both through general approaches and through the reference to specific case studies able to clearly illustrate the issues under consideration.

Timber is a natural building material. If used in building elements, it can play structural functions and aesthetic roles at the same time. The use of timber in buildings, which goes back to the oldest of times, is now experiencing a period of strong expansion in virtue of the material's sustainability. However, timber's use as an engineering material calls for constant development of theoretical and experimental research to properly respond to the issues involved. The book aims to contribute to knowledge in the application of timber in the building industry.

I wish to express my gratitude to all the authors and co-authors of the chapters for their interest and valuable contributions. I also wish to thank the publishing process manager and the editorial and production staff at IntechOpen for their assistance and professional support.

> **Giovanna Concu** Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

> > **1**

in full respect of the environment.

**Chapter 1**

*Giovanna Concu*

**1. Introduction**

ibility, energy saving, and the green economy.

Introductory Chapter: Timber and

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 biocompat-

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

Sustainability in Construction
