Awareness, perceptions and willingness to adopt Cross-Laminated Timber by the architecture community in the United States

作者：Mallo Maria Fernanda Laguarda^*; Espinoza Omar

来源：Journal of Cleaner Production, 2015, 94: 198-210.

DOI：10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.01.090

• Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT)
• Massive timber
• Market potential
• Sustainable buildings
• Awareness level
• Architecture community

Cross-Laminated Timber is an engineered wood-based product, developed in Europe in the early 1990s. Cross-laminated Timber is made of multiple layers of wood boards, which are oriented perpendicular to the adjacent layers. Cross Laminated Timber is a promising construction technology that represents an opportunity to use low-value timber from small diameter and insect-infested forest resources, for a high value-added application, which contributes to better use our forest resources. While Cross-Laminated Timber has been successful in Europe and is making its way into the Canadian and Australian markets, it has not yet been widely adopted in the United States. Research has proven that the rate of diffusion is dependent on potential adopters' perceptions of the product attributes, thus the study of perceptions play an important role in understanding and analyzing the adoption potential of a new product or technology. This document presents the results from research conducted to assess the market potential and barriers to the adoption of Cross-Laminated Timber in the United States, through the analysis of level of awareness, perceptions, and willingness to adopt Cross-Laminated Timber by the United States architecture community.
Results from a nation-wide survey of United States architecture firms show that the level of awareness about Cross-Laminated Timber in the United States is low. The main perceived benefits of Cross-Laminated Timber are a favorable environmental and structural performance, and outstanding aesthetic properties. Major perceived disadvantages are high maintenance costs and fire performance. The most important barriers to the successful adoption of Cross-Laminated Timber according to survey participants are building code compatibility issues, initial cost, and the lack of Cross-Laminated Timber availability in the United States market. Most respondents were uncertain when asked about their willingness to adopt Cross-Laminated Timber in the near future; although willingness to adopt was found to be positively correlated with familiarity with the system. From these results, we conclude that the success of Cross-Laminated Timber-based construction in the United States will depend in great part on the information about the material's benefits reaching the target audience.

• 出版日期2015-5-1