MAINEBIZ • December 20, 2021
The emergence of new timber technologies is one of the biggest advances for the construction industry as it tries to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, according to Ellen Belknap, president of SMRT Architects & Engineers in Portland. Belknap spoke on the topic during a recent E2Tech webinar titled "Building Smarter — Is Mass Timber a Solution?” E2Tech is an energy, environmental, and clean technology business and economic development organization. Belknap’s discussion centered on how to promote wood building materials such as mass timber and cross-laminated timber in Maine, and on whether producing the material in Maine made sense. “Mass timber” means that the primary load-bearing structure of a building is a wood product.