Cities and Urbanization

Timber skyscrapers: high-tech ‘tree’ houses could be the sustainable buildings of the future

A pile of firewood is seen at a firewood merchant in the Varkiza suburb, south of Athens January 22, 2013. With Greeks already struggling under wage and pension cuts imposed by the foreign lenders that bailed their country out, many have stopped using heating oil altogether, pushing consumption down 70 percent in the last three months of 2012 from a year earlier. Instead, Greeks are turning burning firewood - using anything from branches to old furniture - which has helped create a blanket of smog over the Greek capital while illegal logging multiplies across forests in the countryside. Picture taken January 22, 2013.   REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis (GREECE - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - GM1E9271PFC01

With concrete an unsustainable building material, timber can be grown and reduces carbon dioxide. Image: REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis

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Cities and UrbanizationUnited KingdomClimate Change
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