Comparison of CO₂ fixation in wood used for residence houses in Japan and Korea

In this study, we have estimated the amount of carbon (C) fixation in wooden materials used for residence house units in Japan and Korea. This type of C fixation might be helpful to prevent the global warming. In year 2000, the amount of C fixation in the wooden materials was approximately 7.3% (150 million C ton) of total forest C accumulation in Japan, whereas in Korea, it was 2.0% (4.3 million C ton) of the total forest C accumulation. The reason is that structural types of the house units on wood utilization in Japan and Korea are clearly different. Japanese have used 90% of wooden materials for their residence houses but Korean house units have built mostly using non-wooden materials such as concrete, bricks, and stones. It has resulted that the number of total houses in Japan is 5 times higher than that in Korea, whereas the amount of C fixed by the wood materials in Japanese house units is 35 times higher than in Korean's. Therefore, to improve C fixation, it might be necessary to increase wooden residence houses and use of the wooden interior or exterior materials in the residence houses, especially in Korea.