New Green Building Materials

Green building products have expanded in the marketplace and, with home construction still booming, there's more reason than ever to tame the excess with compact design and recyclable, earth-friendly materials.

The Basics: FSC-certified and reclaimed lumber

Since 1993, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has certified more than 120 million acres of forest worldwide. This accounts for about 1 percent of all forests. The numbers are small, but the presence and availability of certified lumber continues to grow. Mainstream chain stores like The Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement Centers are selling more FSC products each year. For instance, The Home Depot sold $15 million worth of FSC certified lumber in 1999, $225 million in 2002, 350 million in 2003. We're also seeing a rise in specialty green building stores like Eco-Lumber Co-Op (www.ecolumber.ca) and the Environmental Home Center (www.environmentalhomecenter.com) that offer a full range of FSC-certified and reclaimed wood products. The breadth of FSC and reclaimed products is growing as well, with basic framing lumber being sold at prices competitive with conventional lumber

Engineered Lumber

Green engineered lumber products are composite materials made with wood chips and other wood waste. They offer the additional advantage of being both stronger and less prone to warping than conventional lumber. Recently, formaldehyde-based adhesives have begun to be replaced with soy-based adhesives. This year Columbia Forest Products has converted two of its factories from using urea-formaldehyde based binders to using an 87 percent soy binder (www.columbiaforestproducts.com).

Paneling

From straw to sorghum, paneling is being manufactured from a wide variety of organic materials. Kirei is a Japanese product made from the sorghum waste fiber. It is formaldehyde-free and costs about $7 a square foot. (www.kireiusa.com)

Agriboard (www.agriboard.com), Biofiber (www.environbiocomposites.com) and Woodstalk (www.dow-bioproducts.com) are straw-based paneling products.

Cabinetry

Wheatboard, made from stems left-over from harvesting, has been gaining in popularity. Now Citilog uses formaldehyde-free wheatboard cores with FSC-certified veneers made from North American hardwoods and South American tropical woods to create kitchen cabinetry easy on the lungs and the environment (www.citilogs.com). See also Neil Kelly Cabinets, which feature wheatboard casing with FSC-certified doors and drawer faces (www.neilkellycabinets.com).