What is a Green 2X4

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What is a Green 2X4?
FPS Green Building Conference Amherst , MA Nov 3
2008

• Lloyd C. Irland
• Yale School of Forestry
• Environmental Studies and
• The Irland Group

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Outline

• 2X4 a metaphor for wood products in
  construction
• Viewpoint here building specifier or owner
• Is Green Affected by end uses?
• Is Certification a solution?
• Some riddles
• Conclusions

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Problems

• Many products have no ready certified answer
• Especially 2X4s
• Problem of wood vs other substitutes
• Local purchasing issue how to handle?
• Can a house be Green without certification?
  Why not?
• But how do you tell?

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Plagiarized from NAHB
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Square feet, New single family, 1973-2007
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California McMansion

• http//www.mcmansions.org/

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McMansions
Green lumber?
Witold Rybscinski blog Jan 4 2006
http//www.slate.com/id/2133029/ Tom
Michalek/EPA/Landov
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For sale in WSJ Oct 10

• Largest 20,000 sq ft
• Most pricey 12.5 MM (Greenwich)
• Most costly 1,000/ sf
• Biggest garage 8 cars
• 6 or 7 bedrms typical
• One bath per BR plus half bath
• Pool -- naturally

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Can ANYTHING associated with such obscene
ostentation be considered Green?Biggest Issue
may be longterm energy consumption in
heating/cooling
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More people?
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Land Use

• Land converted per unit and person (increasing)
• Locations developed
• View lots
• Risky shorelines/barrier islands
• Fireprone areas
• So Cal Chapparal/single family home fuel type
• Heavy subsidies and
• Social and environmental costs
• LEED has numerous criteria

USGS
S. Trevor website
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Tropicals

• Most are desired because of rarity
• Not innate features
• --Or beauty
• Unless you consider building contractors
• To be experts on esthetics
• Limited exceptions, teak, ipe
• Rarity cost snob appeal
• Often hauled literally around the planet
• Often ripped out by next owner (novelty fetish)

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Limitations of Certification as solution

• Supply of certified wood limited
• Virtually nil for some items
• No controls over non-certified wood in a building
• Some items controversial, e.g,. Bamboo flooring
  (cf Bowyer 2005)
• Certifications get revoked how reliable?
• see Yale report to USGBC 2008

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Some riddles

• Is FSC ipe better than treated So. pine?
• If pine comes from 100 mi away
• Is certified OSB hauled 2500 miles
• Greener than OSB from 50 miles away?
• Is paper made from certified chips hauled 150m
  miles green?
• Is certified Okoume hauled from Africa to China
  to Oklahoma Green?

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Riddles. Cont.

• Why would anyone think that eliminating wood from
  a building could help make it Greener
• What is Green cement?
• Why are there no Green I-joists?
• Why would anyone consider FSC New Zealand radiata
  Greener (at a store in Augusta) than
  Maine-grown white pine from natural forests?

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Riddles cont.

• Why would anyone consider industrial monocultures
  of exotics using herbicides and no within stand
  species diversity to be Green (FSC does)
• If Certified wood not available, are plastic tool
  handles or deck railings greener?
• Does the world need a Certifier to re-assure
  them that the labor laws of Sweden or Germany are
  adequate and well enforced?

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Question

• What information would convey information to
  specifiers to help them make sound Green
  decisions?

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Connections

• How wood is used can and does permanently
  compromise Major Social Goals--
• Land use/environmental
• Carbon intensity
• Mobility
• Social
• Shouldnt definitions of Green consider this?
  LEED does see Homes checklist

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Conclusions

• Certification and LEED not a bad place to start
• But not enough
• What to do for vast areas of product space not
  involved in formal certification processes?
• Or, when reasonable goals conflict?
• How to handle the end use issues?
• Is there such a thing as a Green McMansion?

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Concl

• We need some credible source of advice covering
  all these issues
• Who?
• USFPL?
• Some other existing organization or coalition?