by Web Editor | May 26, 2017 | News
EPA issued a proposed Direct Final Rule, concerning formaldehyde emission standards for composite wood products, extending all of the TSCA Title VI compliance deadlines to account for the delays to the originally published effective date. The rule was published in the Federal Register May 24. The new compliance dates are as follows:
• Emissions, recordkeeping and labeling provisions – March 22, 2018
• Import certification – March 22, 2019
• Laminated products – March 22, 2024
The rule also proposes to extend the transitional period for CARB-certified third-party certifiers (TPCs) to March 22, 2019.
This proposed rule will enter into effect within 45 days of publication in the Federal Register if EPA does not receive any adverse comment within 15 days.
“The federal regulation that definitively addresses formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products sold in the United States was first published in the Federal Register on Dec. 12, 2016, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If properly enforced, the regulation can ensure that all products – both domestic and imported composite wood panels and the finished products containing them – meet the world’s most stringent standards for formaldehyde emissions. It also marks the culmination of over 30 years of product stewardship by the composite wood industry, which through voluntary efforts and consistent and progressive work with regulators, has successfully developed products that consistently meet or exceed these tough standards,” said Jackson Morrill, president of the Composite Panel Association.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/epas-final-rule-extends-formaldehyde-compliance-dates?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | May 24, 2017 | News
One building stands out in the old logging town of Prince George, Canada. Encased in a sleek glass facade, the structure towers above most of its neighbors, beckoning from afar with the warm amber glow of Douglas fir. Constructed almost entirely from timber in 2014, the 8-story, 30-meter building is among the tallest modern wooden structures in the world. But it is more than an architectural marvel. As the home of the Wood Innovation and Design Centre at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), it is also an incubator for wooden buildings of the future — and a herald for a movement that could help to tackle global warming.
The building is less like a log cabin and more like a layered cake, constructed from wooden planks glued and pressed together, precision cut by factory lasers and then assembled on site. All told, the university avoided the release of more than 400 tons of carbon dioxide by eschewing energy-intensive concrete and steel, and the building locks up a further 1,100 tons of CO2 that was harvested from the atmosphere by British Columbian trees. In total, that’s enough to offset the emissions from 160 households for a year.
Wooden construction has ancient roots, but only in the past two decades have scientists, engineers and architects begun to recognize its potential to stave off global warming. By substituting concrete and steel with wood from sustainably managed forests, the building industry could curb up to 31% of global carbon emissions, according to research by Chad Oliver, a forest ecologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In time, such a shift could help humanity to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere, potentially reversing the course of climate change.
“It’s the plywood miracle,” says Christopher Schwalm, an ecologist at Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. “This is something that could have a significant impact on the riddle that is global environmental change.”
From Nature.com: https://www.nature.com/news/the-wooden-skyscrapers-that-could-help-to-cool-the-planet-1.21992
by Web Editor | May 19, 2017 | News
The global plywood market is expected to expand by the end of 2017, according to Research Nester. Plywood will see increased demand from the construction of houses and other activities. Moreover, the economical price of the plywood will further drive the market.
The North American region has been consistently dominating the market globally, in terms of the market demand for plywood. This has been primarily due to high plywood consumption by the construction sector. It will be followed by North America and Europe occupying the second position in the market. Asia Pacific is anticipated to showcase robust growth in the next few years. Moreover, plywood market in Asia Pacific will further increase due to the massive growth in construction sector.
Apart from this, the countries with rich forests and woods such as India, Brazil and South Asian countries have the potential to be the key suppliers of plywood in the near future. Further, the growing indigenous demand for plywood in India as a result of rising disposable income among the growing middle and affluent class and the growing infrastructure in recent times is expected to make India an important consumer of plywood in the near future.
The growing demand for the plywood is driven by rising construction activities (both for residential and commercial purposes) and growing preferences for well-designed floors, home ceilings and walls. Robust population growth coupled with rising disposable income as well as rising preferences for branded plywood has expanded the plywood market at a global level.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/north-american-construction-drives-plywood-market-growth
by Web Editor | May 15, 2017 | News
Mass Timber: The Next Great Disruption Of Construction, Wood Products Industries
The seeds of Andrew Waugh’s great disruption were planted in 2003. “Back then, people were saying we could ‘fix’ climate change by putting a solar panel on top of everything we built,” he remembered. “But we knew that wasn’t even close to enough.”
So Waugh’s East London architectural firm started studying mass timber, knowing it was the truly renewable building material – albeit largely unknown and untested in large-scale developments. “We were entranced by the opportunities this new material could provide,” he said.
It took five years for Waugh Thistleton Architects to hone their ideas – “so we could talk about the economic benefits of this kind of building” – and to bring that vision to reality in the world’s first mass timber tower, Murray Grove. The nine-story apartment complex in London’s Hackney borough was made from cross-laminated timber manufactured by KLH, an Austrian company.
Spruce strips were stacked crosswise three layers thick and glued together, producing horizontal beams and vertical structural wall boards that were harder than steel or concrete, with none of the associated carbon loss. The economic savings came at the construction site. Murray Grove was built in 27 days by four men, without a tower crane.
Using wood saved 1,150 tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere – the equivalent of running a wind turbine on top of the building for 210 years. And 29 families moved into new homes in a country with an overwhelming housing shortage.
From Treesource: treesource.org.
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by Web Editor | May 12, 2017 | News
Residents and officials eager for a new siding plant to open in northeast Minnesota are going to have to wait a bit longer. Louisiana-Pacific — which last year announced the purchase of a former mill in Cook, Minn., to expand its thriving engineered wood siding business — now says it will first convert a mill the company operates in British Columbia to make siding.
In a conference call with analysts, LP’s chief operating officer Brad Southern said it makes sense to develop the Canadian site first because of its proximity to the company’s West Coast customer base, and because the mill is already staffed and operating.
But that doesn’t mean a northern Minnesota plant is off the table. The Cook location and another site in Quebec “are likely options for future siding expansion,” said Southern. He added the company is “continuing our planning process for both locations with a focus on Cook.”
Still, the earliest the Cook mill would likely open is 2020, Southern told analysts. The company would first need to construct buildings and equip the entire mill. “The advantages of Cook, though, is it is a larger mill,” said Southern. “Cook gives us a lot of upside on volume. It’s a beautiful piece of land, a beautiful site to construct the mill and then expand it.”
State legislators and economic development officials on the Iron Range have had high hopes for the Louisiana-Pacific plant as something that could kickstart the region’s wood products industry.
From MPR News: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/08/hotly-anticipated-northern-minn-wood-siding-plant-delayed
by Web Editor | May 8, 2017 | News
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) announced today that SmartLam, LLC, is the first U.S. manufacturer of cross laminated timber (CLT) to be certified to the SFI 2015-2019 Chain-of-Custody Standard. SmartLam is also the first manufacturer to produce CLT in the U.S.
SmartLam manufactures CLT for a variety of applications, including floor, roof and wall systems. SFI’s Chain-of-Custody Standard helps companies address the growing demand from governments, customers, and consumers for responsibly sourced forest products.
CLT is the next-generation of engineered wood products. Extensively tested and already widely used in Europe, CLT has vast applications for construction, industrial matting and bridging. Architects and builders choose wood because it looks great, has numerous environmental characteristics – including renewability – and it’s easy to work with. In addition, trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, sequestering and storing the carbon while producing oxygen which reduces greenhouse gases and improves air quality.
“At SmartLam, we make CLT, but we like to tell our clients what we really sell is time. CLT increases construction speed and reduces a project’s cost and carbon footprint. Now, with certification to the SFI Chain-of-Custody Standard, we can also offer our clients supply chain assurance that our products are sourced from well-managed forests that are third-party certified to SFI’s rigorous standards,” said Casey Malmquist, President and General Manager at SmartLam.
SmartLam produces CLT at its Columbia Falls facility in Northwest Montana and is part of a global movement to use wood in tall buildings. Advances in technology are producing more engineered wood products and mass timber products that increase the capabilities of building with wood.
From PR Newswire: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smartlam-is-first-us-clt-manufacturer-to-earn-sfi-chain-of-custody-certification-300452619.html
