immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Waldwirtschaft

  • Swiss wood to become mandatory

    Swiss wood to become mandatory

    Swiss forests produce 10.4 million cubic meters of wood every year, of which just 5 million is consumed. However, a total of 10 million cubic meters of wood ends up on Swiss construction sites. The rest comes from abroad because it is much cheaper. A resource potential that is lying idle, although the demand is there.

    What the National Council is calling for
    National Councillor Daniel Ruch (FDP/VD), a forestry contractor from Vaud by profession, has submitted a motion to amend the Forest Act. In future, Swiss wood should be used in buildings that are subsidized with federal funds, without incurring additional costs for the building owners. The National Council has accepted the motion, now the ball is in the Council of States’ court.

    The Federal Council puts the brakes on
    Federal Councillor Martin Pfister, who represented the convalescing Environment Minister Albert Rösti in the debate, opposed direct subsidies. The federal government already promotes sustainable wood in its own buildings and facilities. There has been a legal basis for this since the 2017 revision of the Forest Act, and there is no scope for new subsidies in view of the tight federal finances, and distortions of competition should be avoided.

    Not a new topic, but new pressure
    Back in 2021, the National Council adopted a similar motion on the complete value chain of the timber industry by 151 votes to 29, also against the will of the Federal Council. Individual cantons such as Thurgau and Zug have already integrated wood promotion into their legislation at cantonal level. The pressure to act is growing.

    What is at stake
    Wood is the only completely renewable building material in Switzerland. Those who use it consistently strengthen regional value creation, reduce transport emissions and protect the forest from ageing. Whether the Council of States supports the motion or puts the brakes on it will determine whether this logic is finally enshrined in law.

  • New brochures promote the use of Bernese wood

    New brochures promote the use of Bernese wood

    The cantonal platform of the Bernese forestry and timber industry, Lignum Holzwirtschaft Bern, aims to promote awareness of the forest and encourage demand for local timber. To enable authorities and administrations to use forests sustainably, the association of Bernese forest owners, the Bernese Sawmill Association, the Swiss Timber Construction Section Bern and Bernese Oberland, the Master Carpenters’ Association Bern and Bernese Oberland and Holzenergie Canton Bern has published a series of brochures entitled “Forest and Wood Compass”. The practical documents were compiled with the support of the Wyss Academy for Nature, Lignum Holzwirtschaft Bern explains in a press release.

    The “Forest and Wood Compass” series is divided into an overview brochure and three topic-specific brochures. The overview brochure is entitled “Forest and Wood Compass for Bernese Regions”. The three topic-specific brochures deal with regional wood in public buildings, efficient forestry structures and financial incentives to secure certain forest services. All brochures can be downloaded at lignumbern.ch/wald-holz-kompass/.

    The mandate for Lignum Holzwirtschaft Bern is managed by Volkswirtschaft Berner Oberland.

  • Aargau forest currently stores 40 million tons of CO2

    Aargau forest currently stores 40 million tons of CO2

    The Forest Division of the Aargau Department of Construction, Transport and Environment has examined the contribution of the Aargau forest to the canton’s CO2 balance. “The forest is already making a non-negligible contribution to achieving the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but the potential has not yet been exhausted,” writes the department in a press release on the corresponding study. The study identified the forestry sector, wood processing and the construction industry as key players for improvement.

    The forestry sector is of the greatest importance. The Aargau forest currently stores 40 million tons of CO2, according to the press release. This corresponds “almost exactly to today’s total annual domestic emissions”. According to the authors of the study, this long-term storage of CO2 must be supported by near-natural management, soil protection and long-term adaptation of the forests to climate change.

    Wood processing and the construction industry can contribute to improvements to a lesser extent. The modelling of a CO2-optimized scenario has shown that increased cascading use of wood as a resource can store or avoid up to an additional 11.1 tonnes of CO2 by 2100. This corresponds to an annual reduction in emissions in the canton of Aargau of up to 3.7 percent. Cascade use refers to the repeated use of the raw material wood in a circular economy. However, if the same amount of wood is used directly for energy production, the contribution is reduced to 6.5 million tons or a maximum of 2.2 percent CO2 reduction.

  • The versatile world of wood

    The versatile world of wood

    Utilisation of the wood
    After a certain time, the tree reaches its growth limit. This is the perfect time to fell the tree – it is ready for harvesting. Depending on the tree species, the time until it is ready for harvesting varies between 60 and 150 years. Until then, the tree has had enough time to reproduce through seeds in the gaps in the forest. The plants in the young forest that are best adapted to the local climatic conditions prevail. In this way, the forest remains healthy thanks to natural selection. During thinning, desirable and well-grown trees are left standing as future trees. The abundance of light in the gaps created by felled trees allows a variety of shrubs and annual plants to colonise the ground – increasing biodiversity in a forest managed in this way.

    The majestic forest of Switzerland
    Around a third of Switzerland’s total land area is covered by protected forest. This forest provides protection against natural disasters, is a habitat for animals and plants, a place for recreation and leisure and a source of wood. Sustainability is a fundamental principle that requires the forest to fulfil all these functions in the long term without harvesting more wood than grows back. Enough wood grows in the Swiss forest every ten minutes to build a detached house. Around 60% of Swiss forests consist of conifers and 40% of deciduous trees. A large proportion of the wood felled is processed into sawn timber and planed products, while 10% is used for the production of paper and wood-based panels. A quarter is used directly as firewood. Around 10 million cubic metres of wood grow in Switzerland every year, only half of which is used. Wood is a durable material that regrows itself and plays an important role in the ecological balance. It is therefore sensible and advisable to use our own wood.

    Characteristics of wood
    Wood is a light yet strong material that can bear fourteen times more weight in relation to its weight than steel. Due to its natural cell structure, the static properties of wood are directional. Wood is most resistant along the grain, as it can withstand a hundred times higher tensile forces and four times higher compressive forces in this direction than across the grain. Understanding these static properties is of crucial importance when building with wood. In addition, the warm and pleasant feel of wood gives rooms a special atmosphere. The wood fibres in the installed wood constantly react to the air humidity and thus contribute to a balanced room climate.

    Variety of wood species – differences in the forest and in the home
    Not all woods are identical. The characteristics and appearance of wood vary depending on the tree species – there is a wide range from light to heavy, soft to hard and light to dark. Each type of wood therefore has specific properties that are suitable for different purposes. For example, the heartwood of sweet chestnut or oak, which is preserved with natural tanning agents, is particularly suitable for outdoor use, while long-fibre ash is used for parts subject to heavy wear. Fine-fibre woods such as beech or maple are used in furniture production. Promoting different tree species by using different types of wood helps to increase biodiversity. Each tree grows individually, so its wood may have more or fewer knots, wider or narrower annual rings, be slightly lighter or darker in colour and grow crooked or straight. Each tree trunk and section is utilised according to its qualities. Selected logs of high quality are processed in sawmills into a variety of sawn products such as beams, boards, laths, posts and glulam. Timber that is crooked and knotty or small diameter logs are converted into chipboard and fibreboard in panel mills. The best qualities are processed into veneer. From both an ecological and an economic point of view, it is crucial to determine the appropriate quality for the respective area of application in advance with the supplier.

    Wood-based materials
    The large formats of wood-based materials have made an important contribution to the development of modern timber construction. The production of wood-based materials follows a simple principle: the wood is chopped into boards, chips or fibres and then shaped into a new form with the help of glue. This results in products with standardised properties in a fixed thickness and size. Wood-based materials therefore offer added value and open up a wide range of design possibilities with wood. As a cost-effective building material for everyday use, wood-based materials are indispensable and are available in a wide range from timber merchants and DIY stores.

  • Jakob Stark presides over Lignum

    Jakob Stark presides over Lignum

    Lignum held its spring meeting online at the end of April, according to a media release from the umbrella organization for the Swiss forest and timber industry. Economy Minister Guy Parmelin also sent a word of greeting and referred to the potential of wood. On the one hand, building owners and architects in Switzerland would increasingly rely on wood and, on the other hand, forests and wood would contribute to the achievement of the federal government's energy and climate targets. There is an enormous demand for the material worldwide.

    Lignum is now managed by Jakob Stark. The Thurgau Council of States has taken over the presidency from Sylvia Flückiger. On her departure, former National Council President Ruedi Lustenberger gave the laudation and underlined that the wood industry had benefited from Flückiger's work in terms of both forest and wood policy.

    The new President Stark sees more and more areas of application for wood as a material in the future. Not only in the building sector, but also in the infrastructure sector, for example in bridge construction, as he says in an interview. In addition, there would also be opportunities to use wood together with concrete: “Modern building is hybrid, you mix.” As a competence center for the use of wood in construction, Lignum would be of major importance for a positive future of wood in Switzerland. In addition, wood has the advantage in terms of climate policy, "that the wood used binds a lot of CO2 and can thus make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and slowing global warming, and that is still very cost-effective," says Stark.