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Milwaukee鈥檚 proposed  sounds like a conventional housing project. Scheduled to open in September 2022, it offers 250+ apartments with views of downtown Milwaukee and Lake Michigan. But one thing sets it apart from other housing towers in the U.S.鈥攊t鈥檚 supposed to be the world鈥檚 tallest timber tower.

Why timber?

Firms working on timber construction believe that compared to typical construction materials like steel and concrete, timber is easier and cheaper to use, and more durable in the long run. The best part: It could benefit the environment.

鈥淢ass timber construction [a method of using timber for construction] requires 90% less construction traffic, 75% fewer workers on-site, and is 25% faster than traditional construction. All of these reductions factor into reduced emissions associated with the construction process,鈥� Tim Gokhman of , said.

While using timber construction to save the environment sounds counterintuitive, an  in the past few years are proving otherwise.

Construction is typically one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions. , building and construction are responsible for  of all carbon emissions in the world, 40% in the United States. This number is by 2050 as millions of housing and commercial buildings are constructed each year.

To combat such construction emissions, real estate developers and construction companies turn to wood to sequester carbon and enable sustainable housing projects. Explaining how this works, Erica Dodds, CEO of the  says, 鈥淭rees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When trees are then converted into mass timber to use for construction, the carbon is 鈥榣ocked-in鈥� the buildings for decades or even centuries, reducing the amount available in the atmosphere.鈥�

In addition to pulling carbon out of the atmosphere, 鈥渕ass timber also helps builders avoid emissions-intensive building materials like concrete and steel,鈥� Dodds adds. 鈥淢ass timber construction could help us avoid between  by preventing the emissions that would occur through the use of concrete or steel in construction.鈥�

Take, for instance, Milwaukee鈥檚 Ascent tower. 鈥淚n using mass timber, Ascent employs a renewable resource,鈥� Gokhman from New Land Enterprises says. 鈥淪ustainable forestry is the foundation of the mass timber movement, and it is estimated it would take only 25 minutes of natural growth in the North American forests to replenish the wood [buildings like] Ascent will use.鈥�

Some advocates suggest well-managed timber sourcing can actually benefit the environment. 鈥淲ith careful forestry management, sustainable timber harvesting can preserve the biodiversity and resilience of forests, making them less vulnerable to pests and wildfires,鈥� says Dodds. 鈥淭hese savings of emissions can more than make up for the risk of reduced CO2 capture by forests.鈥�

For these reasons, timber construction has been  for years, and now North America is catching up. Today,  across the United States. Many of these are residential projects, offering a sustainable housing alternative to traditional steel construction.

For instance, , Cleveland has proposed a , and Brooklyn, New York, has .

Along with providing an eco-friendly housing alternative, mass timber construction offers a wide range of safety and durability benefits.

鈥淒ata shows that mass timber performs as well as or even better than other building materials in fire, earthquake, and wind conditions. In fire tests, mass timber panels char on the outside, forming an insulating barrier that protects interior wood,鈥� Gokhman said.

Weight is another important factor to consider when constructing high-rise residences, Gokhman adds. 鈥淐ities around the world are actually slowly sinking. Years and years of urban development that takes into account the weight of a building but not the weight of a block, have contributed to a geological phenomenon called land subsidence.鈥�

That鈥檚 where timber construction can help. Using their Ascent project as an example, they add, 鈥淏ecause Ascent is about 1/5th the weight of a concrete building of the same height, we can increase population density with a smaller footprint.鈥�

So, if timber construction is so beneficial, why isn鈥檛 everyone doing it?

While timber buildings offer a host of industrial and environmental benefits, some concerns still haven鈥檛 been fully ironed out.

First, timber construction uses a lot of trees and there鈥檚 little guarantee of officially monitored and ethical wood sourcing. Finding sufficient wood for such large-scale construction projects without compromising the current timber forests can be an economic, ethical, and legal minefield. And right now with increasing climate risks, even a small percentage of bad players can pose serious threats to the environment.

Another concern for timber construction developers was  which limited the construction of tall timber buildings for safety. 鈥淐onducting the necessary research and getting approvals was a two-year process for Ascent, since the building will exceed the historical height limit for a wooden structure by about 200 feet, Gokhman says. 鈥淭here were no U.S. precedents, or a roadmap to follow when it came to development, financing, insurance, or procurement.鈥�

Fortunately for timber developers, the  to allow timber buildings to be built as high as 18 stories, which may explain the recent boom in timber construction. 鈥淭he [updated] code will better enable for design and construction of tall mass timber buildings up to 18 stories tall, up from 6 previously,鈥� says Will Gulliver, director of Turner & Townsend, a global real estate development and consultancy firm that recently started working on timber projects.

There鈥檚 also an awareness problem. Many developers haven鈥檛 considered timber construction simply because they aren鈥檛 aware such an eco-friendly alternative to steel and concrete exists.

For instance, even Ascent鈥檚 developers didn鈥檛 initially realize the spectrum of benefits timber construction had to offer. 鈥淥ur team was drawn to timber for its beauty and the innate benefits of creating spaces that utilize natural elements,鈥� Gokhman said. 鈥淲e discovered the myriad of environmental benefits associated with mass timber construction after we had already started working on the project.鈥�

Yet, despite these difficulties, experts like Gokhman, Dodds, and Gulliver agree the benefits offered by timber construction done right could hugely outweigh the problems. As awareness grows and obstacles subside, it鈥檚 a possibility that other states too will embrace timber construction as an eco-friendly alternative to concrete and steel housing. 鈥淭he supply and construction know-how of mass timber in North America is improving and this will facilitate the design and use of [timber construction] in most cities.鈥�

This story was originally published by . It is republished here as part of the SoJo Exchange from , a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems.