VICTORIA'S timber industry has launched a campaign to show the "green" credentials of native forest timber for the construction sector.

The strategy centres on stressing timber's advantage over other materials used in the building industry, such as concrete, steel and aluminium. The measuring stick is "embodied energy" — the total energy used to create, use and dispose of a product or material.

The chief executive of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries, Trish Caswell, said mandated Australian energy regulations, such as Victoria's five-star regulations, focused only on improving the operational energy efficiency of new homes.

"They do not include the 'embodied energy' impacts of the materials used to build homes," she said.

This inconsistency had been noted last year by the Productivity Commission, which cites an Australian Greenhouse Office study that compared concrete slabs with timber floors in house design.

The AGO study found that a concrete floor would reduce greenhouse gas emissions when the house was used, but it would take 62 years for this benefit to outweigh the higher embodied emissions of a concrete floor.

Ms Caswell said this problem was highlighted by the inconsistencies of Victorian Government procurement policy.

VicUrban had adopted a design manual that specifically stated that only sustainable timber — defined as plantation or recycled wood — should be used in construction. A similar procurement policy had been put in place for the Commonwealth Games.

"This approach does not make allowance for the Government's own sanctioned forestry policy. Victoria's native forests are now harvested in a sustainable way," she said. "Victoria's native hardwood timber is a renewable resource. Every hectare of timber harvested is regenerated."

VAFI has issued a discussion paper to publish its views — The Environmental Impact of Building Materials, prepared by industry consultant Alastair Woodard.

The paper, drawing on wide research, emphasises native timber's "green" qualities: its ability to be recycled, its impact on water use, and forests' ability to sequester carbon.

For example, research cited shows that rough-sawn timber uses 750 megajoules of fossil fuel energy per cubic metre. The equivalent figures for other materials are: concrete (4800), steel (266,000) and aluminium (1.1 million).

Ms Caswell said building components and furniture ensured that the embedded carbon dioxide remained "fixed" for long periods.

The forestry campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation, Lindsay Hesketh, said the ACF strongly supported timber as a product that has less environmental impact than other materials and that can be used for environmental services.

However, Mr Hesketh said the ACF preferred plantation timber over native forest because it had less impact on biodiversity.

New plantation forests could create a range of products and environmental services. "Most material in new houses is plantation-based," he said.