A volume housebuilder phoned a timber frame manufacturer on his mobile. “Quick, tell me,” he cried, “how much carbon do I save if I build a timber frame home? I'm about to go into a board meeting and I need some numbers!” “Four tonnes on average,” came the reply.

“Wow! Really? That's great. Why haven't you guys been telling me this before?” “We have – you just haven't heard it”, was the manufacturer's exasperated response.

This anecdote illustrates the sea change under way in housebuilding. The timber frame industry has been shouting its environmental credentials from the sedum-covered rooftops for years. The big difference now is that the world is listening.

In fact, the UK housebuilding industry seems to be in a bit of an eco-frenzy, gearing up for another new challenge. The gauntlet has been thrown down by English Partnerships once again, and now the race is on to design and build the UK's first near zero and zero carbon homes.

Even though the final definition of zero carbon is yet to be agreed, the UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) has wholeheartedly welcomed the launch of English Partnerships' Carbon Challenge. It's about time that we started offering real incentives to progressive housebuilders and developers who build greener – and, increasingly often, timber frame – homes.

Of course, it is possible to achieve energy and water-efficient new homes without using timber. But it seems completely daft that such homes should be built using other, more polluting materials that have such a high environmental impact.

Timber has the lowest carbon cost of any mainstream building material, even allowing for transport. In contrast, the impact of extracting, refining, processing and manufacture of other materials like concrete and steel is incredibly high, accounting for more than 10% of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The carbon dioxide emissions from a single timber frame three-bed detached home are 16.5% less than its brick and block equivalent. New research by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management shows that it is possible to achieve up to 86% reduction in greenhouse gases simply by increasing the amount of timber specified in buildings. So developers aiming to meet the requirements of the government's Code for Sustainable Homes will gain a real, cost-neutral boost by using timber frame construction.

It's also commercially and technically feasible to reach Levels 5 and 6 of the Code using timber frame in volume housebuilding and this will be demonstrated at BRE's Offsite 07 exhibition in June. That's why I believe quality, low and zero carbon homes can become a mainstream reality well before 2016.

When you build with timber frame construction, you make a positive contribution to tackling climate change. So next time you're talking to your customers or board, it's worth remembering these facts and figures:

l For every cubic metre of wood used instead of other building materials, 0.8 tonne of carbon is saved from the atmosphere. For a typical 100m2 two-storey detached timber frame house, this translates into a carbon saving of four tonnes of CO2, just like that.

l If all UK new houses built since 1945 had been timber frame, then more than 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would have been saved. (To put this into context, consider the fact that, at current rates, it will take us another 200 years to achieve this sort of saving using the government's latest energy regulations for new homes).

l The carbon benefits don't stop at the point of a home's completion on site. Using a standard 140mm stud timber frame system achieves U-values between 0.30 and 0.27 using readily available and standard insulation, and using higher performance insulation and insulating breather membranes can boost these figures even more. This means that there are significant carbon savings in the home's day-to-day use, as well as financial benefits from lower running costs.

With all these topical factors going in timber frame's favour, now is the perfect opportunity to really drive the market place forward using our environmental credentials.

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