Green Certifications & Atributes
FOREST PRACTICES WITH CERTIFICATION
 |
 |
 |
British Columbia, the main source of Western Red Cedar, is a leader in third-party sustainable forest management certification, with an area almost as large as the UK certified under one of three proven standards.
The three certification methods used in B.C. – the Canadian Standards Association’s Sustainable Forest Management Standard [CSA], the Sustainable Forestry Initiative [SFI] and the Forest Stewardship Council [FSC] – all involve independent, qualified third-party audits that measure company’s planning, practices, systems and performance.
They all ensure that forest management promotes sustainability. They all examine how operations address a range of forest values such as biological diversity, wildlife habitat, soils and water resources. Furthermore, they all ensure that harvested areas are reforested, that laws are complied with, and that there is no unauthorized or illegal logging. Finally, all three certification methods have non-industry participants and publicly-released audit results.
Virtually every major B.C. forest company, and many smaller ones, operate on certified lands. Customers can be assured that if a supplier is issued a certificate demonstrating certification to the CSA, SFI or FSC standards, the Western Red Cedar products they supply come from sustainable and well-managed forests.
Sustainable Attributes
Western red cedar providing environmental transparency among building materials
The discussion of environmental transparency focuses on establishing an integrated information source to minimize confusion about technical data and remove doubt about materials sustainability. Environmental Product Declarations [EPDs], a universal system based on third-party comparison of data across pre-established categories, are one such possibility.
“A lot of data points to interest in Environmental Product Declarations as an early trend,” said Dr. Jim Bowyer of Dovetail Partners and a leading expert on EPDs. “They establish a universal basis for independent comparison of environmental product attributes.” Several drivers are influencing the conversation. The U.S. Green Building Council has developed a pilot credit program that includes a transparency incentive.
“EPDs are at the core of our approach to Materials and Resources in the next version of LEED and they are essential to move to the next level of environmental decision making about materials and products,” said Scot Horst, Senior Vice President of LEED, U.S. Green Building Council.
“Architecture 2030 has issued the 2030 Challenge for Products which challenges architects, designers, and specifiers to ask product manufactures for LCAs and EPDs in order to choose low-carbon products for their building projects,” said Ed Mazria, founder of the carbon emissions reduction initiative.
Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, an environmental transparency leader, is embracing standardized measurement systems that clarify confusion and identify the real ecological impacts of building materials. The association has produced peer-reviewed EPDs for decking and siding by its members, accounting for two of the small handful of EPDs completed in North America.
WRCLA’s EPDs are based on a third-party life cycle analysis that evaluated cedar against competitor decking and siding materials, allowing for full environmental disclosure of environmental claims as part of the materials selection process. “Determining the true of materials requires evaluating the overall costs of a product lifecycle,” said Jack Draper, WRCLA’s executive director.
“Our EPDs provide buyers of Western Red Cedar from member companies with accurate, verifiable environmental performance information. It’s a logical, responsible thing to do and begs the question of other product suppliers who do not offer EPDs, what do they have to hide?”
Info: brian.coddington@hillandknowlton.com, www.wrcla.org.
Life Cycle Assessment:
by The Athena Institute for Sustainable Materials / www.athenasmi.org
Production:
- Manufacturing use 53% less energy than steel and 120% less energy than concrete.
- Manufacturing produces far fewer greenhouse gases.
- Wood has the lowest impact on air and water quality, especially when compared to the manufacture of recycled steel.
- Wood is the world’s only renewable building material. After 150 years of harvesting, Canada’s forest remains abundant. North American Forests have increased 20% since 1970.
- Waste materials are being processed into reusable structural and finishing products
Energy Efficiency
Embodied energy includes all energy, direct and indirect, used to extract, manufacture, transport and install materials. This principle aims to lower the energy used, not only during service life, which tends to be in the control of the designer, but also for producing the materials.
The manufacture of Western Red Cedar uses very little energy so, even though it may be brought to the building site from outside the area, the embodied energy will normally be less than locally manufactured concrete. Life-cycle comparisons demonstrate that Western Red Cedar has low embodied energy and is an excellent choice to meet this principle.
Durability:
|
Wood is also durable which means that the materials will last for a long time and not need to be replaced. |
 |