The Northeastern and Great Lakes regions of the U.S. are known for their vast forestlands of commercial softwood timber. Consider these environmental advantages of using wood products from this region in building construction:
Renewable – Harvested from well-managed forests, wood products are among the earth’s few renewable and sustainable building materials. And it is readily available!
Local – Building in the Northeast or Great Lakes area? Sourcing locally grown, harvested and milled SPFs lumber significantly reduces the energy necessary to transport wood products to the marketplace, thereby reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the transport process.. Wood products coming from the western U.S. or even as far away as New Zealand and South America have a much higher carbon footprint on the environment.
LEED Points – The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a leading non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in buildings design, construction, and operation. The organization is best know for its Leadership in Energy and Engineering Design rating system for building construction, better know as LEED. This rating system encourages the use of “locally” manufactured products (within 500 miles of the project) in construction. Architects and builders seeking to obtain a LEED-rated building gain added points for using locally produced wood products such as SPFs.
