GREEN BUILDING
Sustainable building - now referred to as “Green Building” - includes design, materials, construction, and maintenance that promote energy efficient and environmentally friendly practices. It even considers location on the site and building orientation for optimum natural lighting. The truth about wood is a much greener story than any alternative.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

• Wood is renewable, sustainable and abundant
  North American forests cover about the same area they did 100 years ago. According to a United Nations study State of the Worlds Forest, 1997 and 2001, and the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005, North American forests expanded over 9 million acres in the 1990’s and an additional 2 million acres between 2000 and2005.
  
  
• Wood is recyclable
  Older buildings are being dismantled and the materials reused. Materials such as beams and timbers are used “as-is” while other components can be remanufactured into flooring and paneling. Low quality products can be chipped for composite products, mulched or burned for fuel.
  
  
• Wood is biodegradable
  Since wood is natural and organic, wood products that end up in landfills are fully biodegradable.
  
  
• Wood is ready to use
  Wood does not need to be mined, extruded, smelted, or cast - it’s merely cut to size. The alternatives to wood require many times more energy to produce generating significantly more greenhouse gases.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) measures the environmental impact of building materials and assemblies. It assesses the impact from resource extraction, manufacturing, on-site construction, occupancy/maintenance, demolition, and recycling/reuse/disposal. In all LCA impact studies, wood products perform better than any other material that can be used in the same application

A Canadian Wood Council (CWC) LCA study comparing wood, steel, and concrete showed wood more environmental friendly in all aspects but one. Wood measured embodied energy (53% less than steel, 120% less than concrete), global warming potential (23% less than steel 50% lower than concrete), air toxicity (74% less than steel 115% less than concrete), water toxicity (247% less than steel 114% less than concrete), weighted resource use (14% less than steel 93% less than concrete), construction wastes (21% higher than steel 58% less than concrete).

RED CEDAR = GREEN
Since wood is the only building material that is renewable, it is the most “green “. While resource management is a complex global issue, North America now serves as a model for how to manage forests in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. American landowners plant more than two billion trees annually and well over a billion more seedlings start naturally. Vinyl, plastic, steel and concrete all are manufactured from resources that are simply not renewable. Western Red Cedar is naturally decay resistant, and will provide years of exterior performance without any chemical enhancement.

In business since 1897, we at Edmund A. Allen Lumber Company will provide future generations with products you can feel good about using and designing into your homes. Allen Lumber Company purchases Western Red Cedar only from producers using material from managed sustainable yield forests.

If the intent is to build “Green” the best choice for siding, shingles, beams and decking is Western Red Cedar.

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