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PICRYL Nevertheless, due to the high variability in this aspect, a
conservative height was chosen in alignment with modern
structures.
Regarding the quantification of wood buildings in urban

environments, as expressed in the methodology, several
assumptions had to be made to obtain the presented results.
This may lead to underestimations or overestimations,
which are addressed by the sensitivity analysis that considers
minimum and maximum ranges for wood mass estimation.
In this case, the representative structural elements and the
wall density factor present an alternative to previous research,
which used representative building types or random samples.
ratios. Meanwhile, studies addressing the full set of wood- However, since the methodology considers only basic

based materials have indicated a range of around 50 kg/m2 structural elements and not the entire wood construction, and
of wood being used for framed buildings, while maintaining it also underestimates the wood usage in historical structures,
the roof-to-wall ratio identified in the Chilean case. overall, these results tend to be conservative in relation to the
In this sense, the upward variation in some case studies total wood carbon storage.
is due to the fact that these analyses do not only include With regard to the specific results of the case study, it is
structural elements. also noteworthy that there was a decline in timber construction
However, an average wood MI of 37 kg/m2 has been in 2021, following continuous growth in previous years. This

identified in the context of European and Asian studies in effect has been seen in other countries across the entire
accordance with the results obtained in this work. construction sector and can be easily explained by the
On the other hand, it has been identified that historical Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions.
dwellings based on other construction methods with high Furthermore, although a recovery in wood construction
wood usage, such as stacked log systems, could have a wood growth is evident between 2022 and 2024, this recovery is
intensity of up to 135 kg/m2 on average for Swedish homes quite modest due to a local building sector crisis that the
and 88 kg/m2 on average for traditional Japanese homes. country has been experiencing for the past four years, related
However, these types of buildings are rare in the Chilean to investment issues and bureaucratic delays in permits.
context as they were not recorded during the data collection This clearly demonstrates how global economic events

period and should not represent a significant correction factor and local conditions can affect wood construction growth
for the results presented. and its capacity to store carbon.
It is recognised, however, that in the case of Chilean To understand the potential of wood buildings for carbon
historical buildings, wood usage may be slightly under- estimated and CO2 storage in the built environment, it is important to
due to the height used in the quantification of material in the compare them with other carbon sinks, such as forests. In
defined wall types. this regard, Chilean forest land covers 17.9 million hectares,
This is because a review of projects from that era suggests of which 14.8 million are native forests and 3.1 million are

that the heights of historical buildings are greater than those plantations.
of contemporary buildings. According to the Chilean national carbon inventory, based