Wood is It
This just in. A new study has christened wood as the most ecologically friendly building material. A study conducted by the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials found that wood is better in a variety of areas, including energy needed for manufacture, waste impact on the environment, and ability to sequester carbon. Quoting the linked article:
The research showed that wood framing used 17 percent less energy than steel construction for a typical house built in Minnesota, and 16 percent less energy than a house using concrete construction in Atlanta. And in both these two examples, the use of wood had 26 to 31 percent less global warming potential.
So get out your woodworking tools. Wood is in baby!