USDA Study Supports Use of Wood as “Greenest” of Building Materials

In Washington, DC, today, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the findings of a new U.S. Forest Service study indicating that wood should be favored as a primary building material in green building.   The authors of Science Supporting the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Using Wood and Wood Products in Green Building Construction reviewed the scientific literature and found that using wood in building products yields fewer greenhouse gases than using other common materials.  “This study confirms what many environmental scientists have been saying for years,” said Vilsack.  “Wood should be a major component of American building and energy design.  The use of wood provides substantial environmental benefits, provides incentives for private landowners to maintain forest land, and provides a critical source of jobs in rural America.” 

Carlton Owen, President & CEO of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) welcomed and echoed Vilsack’s statement.  “Our work at the Endowment is founded on the belief that the best way to ensure forests for the future is to provide healthy and sustainable markets for all products of those forests — wood, water, wildlife, and recreation among them.   This study is great news for all Americans …. you can indeed have your forests and use them too and know that using forest products in a range of building applications is good for the environment, good for communities, good for the economy, and good for forests.” 

To view the report, visit:   www.fs.fed.us/news/2011/releases/09/green-building-report.pdf