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FAQ – How Can Using Forest Products Help The Environment

By
Real Estate Agent with Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified #1 in Forest Land Mgmt

FAQ – How Can Using Forest Products Help The Environment.forest

Many people think that using forest products instead of unnatural products like plastic, steel, concrete, etc is bad for the environment because they think that it will prevent trees from being cut down.

This could not be further from the truth but it is a falacy that persists because these people don’t take the time to understand the scientific and economic systems that govern the situation.

 

forests to corn

 

 

First the Economic Systems:

  • The land will be used for something.
    • If corn is worth more than trees, then trees will be bulldozed and replaced with corn.
    • Currently the high price of corn is causing record acreages of land to be converted from forestland to corn in the Midwest.
  • Trees are a renewable resource and can be cut and grown over and over again, each time taking carbon out of the air and storing it for as long as the tree remains unburned.

 

forestSecond, the Scientific Systems:

  • Wood stores Carbon Dioxide and keeps it out of the air at a rate of about 1 ton of CO2 per cubic meter of wood.
  • Wood products have a long lifespan and will keep the carbon out of the air for their duration.
  • When we build a house, that carbon is stored in the house for as long as the house remains unburned.
  • When that tree is repackaged as a book, magazine, or other paper item, it will keep the carbon out of the air for as long as the paper exists.
  • When the wood products are done with their current employment they can then be recycled and the carbon will continue to be stored out of the air.
  • And in the end if the wood products are burned, it is still just a carbon neutral situation since no more carbon will be released than what was originally absorbed while the tree was growing.
  • There is a bonus effect to using trees instead of other products, less fuel is required to produce the needed product than if concrete, plastic, or steel are used.
  • And if the wood is produced locally instead of using imported products like bamboo and South American hardwoods, then even less fuel will be used.

 

Here is an example:forest

 If we use one cubic meter of wood for a house, we have removed 1 ton of CO2  from the atmosphere and the carbon stays in the wood materials.

If we use one cubic meter of wood instead of one cubic meter of concrete, steel, plastic or aluminium, which are more energy intensive materials to produce, we will have removed another ton of CO2  from the atmosphere.

Therefore in total 2 tons of CO are not emitted to the atmosphere if we substitute other materials and use one cubic meter of wood for construction.

By comparison, these two tons of CO2 equals the emissions from the burning of 228 gallons of gasoline.

 forest

All that from using just one cubic meter of wood, imagine how much you are helping the environment by building a whole house from natural products like locally produced wood!

 

 

Comments (8)

Joe Petrowsky
Mortgage Consultant, Right Trac Financial Group, Inc. NMLS # 2709 - Manchester, CT
Your Mortgage Consultant for Life

All you points are a Strong argument for the use of wood instead of other products that are produced today. Thank you for giving us good information, as usual.

Make it a great week!

Aug 25, 2013 06:49 PM
Wayne Zuhl
Remax First Realty II - Cranford, NJ
The Last Name You'll Ever Need in Real Estate

Trees are renewable - plastic is not. You present a compelling argument, Bob. 

Aug 25, 2013 10:04 PM
Kristin Johnston - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Platinum - Waukesha, WI
Giving Back With Each Home Sold!

Bob, you always make a great argument in your posts...have a wonderful week!

Aug 26, 2013 12:23 AM
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

Excellent blog, Bob. The quality of your blogs is at the top on ActiveRain.

Keep up the good work.

Aug 26, 2013 06:22 AM
Silvia Dukes PA, Broker Associate, CRS, CIPS, SRES
Tropic Shores Realty - Ich spreche Deutsch! - Spring Hill, FL
Florida Waterfront and Country Club Living
Bob, and wood looks so much nicer than plastic! And it's biodegradable whereas plastic is not (at least not as quickly)! Great post, I had never realized that the absorbed CO2 isn't released until the wood is burned again.
Aug 26, 2013 09:28 AM
Sondra Meyer:
EXP Realty, LLC - Corpus Christi, TX
See It. Experience It. Live It.

Bob,

This is a very interesting post.  I tend to agree with you.  It is heartbreaking to see major stands of trees  just bulldozed down. 

Aug 26, 2013 02:49 PM
Bob Crane
Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified - Stevens Point, WI
Forestland Experts! 715-204-9671

Thanks for stopping by Friends, enjoy the wood in your homes and remember that every piece of wood is carbon kept out of the air, and every tree that is employed in producing more wood is sucking more carbon out of the air.

 

Sep 01, 2013 04:57 PM
Michael Decker
Gilbert, AZ
Right now is the best time to own a brand new home

Absolutely amazing FAQ.  Doesn't every Sanctuary deserve to be the upper Echelon ?   Then go with Bob!

Sep 15, 2015 08:27 AM