This paper from researchers at Yale was published in January looking at the carbon sequestration potential of wood buildings. I think it complements @chris1 work (amongst others). h/t Wil Srubar.
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I like it but it seems limited. Buildings can also store carbon in biobased materials made from agricultural waste (e.g. straw and other fibers), and in use captured CO2 in cement (e.g. CarbonCure) or as an alternative cementitious material (Solidia) or as an mineralized CO2 in concrete aggregate (BluePlanet).
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Agreed, I think ag-waste shows the most promise, unfortunately there are not many suppliers - the authors mention that bio-based construction products have the potential to sequester even more CO2 than wood:
In addition to timber, other traditional bio-based materials, for example, bamboo, straw, hemp, and emerging bio-based materials with high carbon content (~90% instead of ~50% for wood) need to be explored. Optimal mixtures of bio-based construction materials will likely depend on the local climate and the natural resources available.
CarbonCure sequesters ~500 g CO2 per m3… Solidia has some promise but is only for precast AFAIK. I like Blue Planet, but am not sure if they’ve had much market success, do you know if they have supply capacity to B.C., or even in SFO?
@will.nash I agree both CarbonCure and Solidia are limited, as is blue planet, but taken together concrete holds a lot of promise; other approaches are in development also.
I spoke to Blue Planet last month or so and they were not in production yet. Their first plant will be in the SF bay area so it might be hard to get it in BC.
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