While wood appears solid, it is a highly porous material, and there are internal crevices within wood that store heat readily. Wood is a natural insulator due to air pockets within its cellular structure, which means that it is 15 times better than brick, 400 times better than steel, and 1,770 times better than aluminum. In addition, lightweight wood framing methods allow easy installation of additional insulation materials.
As a result of this improved thermal performance, buildings produced using timber, particularly engineered timber such as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Glulam and Kontio Logs require less energy to heat and cool, resulting in reduced energy bills.
In addition, timber is hygroscopic and has the ability to exchange moisture with the surrounding air which provides a buffer against short-term changes in humidity and temperature.
Additional layers of insulation material e.g. on the outside or an insulated installation section on the inside enable insulation levels to be attained that are required in a passive house (heating requirement of < 0.15 kW/m²). An overall structural element thickness of 30 cm is already sufficient to attain this passive house standard.