Reduced Impact

Wood products are better for the environment than most alternatives. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies show that wood is better for the environment than steel or concrete in terms of embodied energy, air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The wood industry supports LCA as a way to understand and compare environmental cost of materials, and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as a way to communicate this information to consumers.

Responsibly-managed forests can maximize the amount of carbon stored over the long term, and manufacturing wood into products requires far less energy than other materials. In turn, wood buildings can require less energy to construct and operate over time. Almost all wood products are recyclable, too. Design optimization, use of recovered wood and specifying that job site waste is separated and taken to a local recovery center are all ways to reduce, re-use and recycle.

Wood can help to earn points in categories typically found in green building rating systems in many rating systems. And perhaps most importantly, people feel an instinctive connection and attraction to natural materials, and evidence suggests this can contribute to an individual’s sense of well-being.