Green building drives product development.

It's almost impossible to read a newspaper, watch the news on TV or listen to the radio without hearing some story about some aspect of the "green" movement in America. Hybrid cars. Solar energy panels. Better home insulation. Recycling. There is no real definition of what "green" means in this context, so most of us assume that it includes anything and everything that sustains or improves any aspect of our environment.

Sustaining Interest

Art Raymond, President of A.G. Raymond & Company, Raleigh, North Carolina, a long-time wood products industry expert, summed up the green movement and the wood products industry this way: "Preserving natural resources is nothing new for the wood products industry. For years forest products companies both large and small have patiently invested in their resource base, often with 50-plus year horizons. Billions have been invested in maximizing the transformation of wood fiber previously considered waste into useful products. More billions have been spent to clean up the effluent steams of our manufacturing processes. Undeniably the forests are our only renewable natural resource and without it, the wood products industry would disappear. Our industry knows that well."

Just one aspect of the green movement that includes the wood products industry is green building. The US Green Building Council's LEED[R] (leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program is well known and well accepted in the marketplace. LEED[R] has programs for all kinds of building projects, but it is best known for LEED[R] NC for new commercial construction. The Green Building Initiative, or GBI, is rapidly developing acceptance across the nation. The GBI's program for green commercial building is called Green Globes. GBI is also the marketing arm for the NAHB Research Center's Nodel Green Home Building Guidelines.

LEED[R]ing Innovators

In response to customer demand and the requirements of the LEED[R] program, Timber Products Company has developed a new line of products, "Green T[TM]" Hardwood Panels.

* Timber Products Company has assisted Hexion Specialty Chemicals in their development of a cost-effective soy resin that has no added urea formaldehyde, thus meeting the LEED[R] requirement. Green T[TM] Veneer Core Hardwood Plywood is now available from Timber Products Company.

* Arreis[TM] is a medium density fiberboard panel manufactured by affiliate company SierraPine of Roseville, California. Arreis[TM] contains 100% recycled wood fiber from sustainable forestry operations and is manufactured with a proprietary binder that surpasses the most stringent international emission standards. When Arreis[TM] MDF is used as the core of a Timber Products Company hardwood panel and made with our new soy resin, the panel also meets this LEED[R] requirement.

Timber Products Company has other new products on the drawing board that will continue to build on our tradition of environmental leadership.

Timber Products Company was the world's first hardwood plywood manufacturer to carry the Sustainable Forestry Initiative[R] Program label and we continue to lead the way in evironmental responsitility.