An environmentally-friendly choice.

Wood manufacturing uses less energy creates less pollution than other materials

Wood is by far the most environmentally friendly building material. Many people don't realize that manufacturing wood consumes less energy and creates less pollution than the manufacture of other common building materials.

For example, the manufacture of aluminum siding requires five times more energy than wood siding. It takes 21 times more energy to produce the materials for a four-inch-thick concrete floor than a wood floor. Even a steel wall requires three to five times more energy to extract, manufacture and construct than a wood wall.

Producing steel, metal and concrete is not an environmentally friendly process. Wood is friendly to lakes and rivers, whereas the manufacture of steel generates over 100 times more water pollution than wood. Even concrete generates twice the water pollution that wood does.

Building with wood also helps keep air cleaner. A life-cycle study revealed using steel framing to build a typical office building causes 40 per cent more air pollution than using wood framing. Building with concrete is even more harmful, causing 60 per cent more air pollution than wood.

In addition, the thousands of tonnes of ore that go into making sheet metal beams or aluminum siding can't be replaced. These resources are finite. Once consumed, they are gone forever.

Wood is the only building material that comes from a renewable natural resource. Wood in Canada is harvested and replanted in a continually regenerating cycle. When a tree is harvested, every part serves a useful purpose. Of each tree harvested, 95 per cent goes into useful products such as lumber and plywood. Chips and sawdust are used to make engineered wood. Even the bark is used, for landscaping products or for fuel to cogenerate power for the mill. The remaining five per cent is left in the forest to biodegrade and provide nutrients to support new growth.

Internationally, Canada is recognized as a leader in sustainable forest management. Canada has a 99 per cent success rate at regenerating harvested areas over a 10-year period. The United Nations' latest study found that Canada's forests actually increased by 9,000 sq. km between 1990 and 1995. Indeed, due to sustainable forestry practices, the volume of trees in Canada's productive forests increased by four per cent from 1981 to 1995.

The great news is that Canadians are growing more trees every year.

Last year, over 600 million tree seedlings were planted in Canada. This translates to 20 new trees for every Canadian. In fact, since 1976, the volume of trees growing in productive forests has been increasing at a rate greater than annual harvests. Canada grows more wood than it harvests.

The truth is that each year in Canada we harvest less than 0.4 per cent of commercial forests. As a result of sustainable forestry practices, the volume of trees growing in productive forests increased by 4 per cent from 1981 to 1995.

Experience has taught the forest industry how to encourage natural regeneration, and the industry has pioneered successful ways of replanting with native trees.