Thursday, 01 July 2004
FSC- certification: A 'Green' Building Market Opportunity
By Terry Campbell, Forest Product Solutions
Forest certification has been growing in the United States for more than 10 years, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), has been on the leading edge of that growth. Since its inception in 1993, FSC’s growth has been based largely on market-based initiatives; from big-box retailers purchasing policies, to a market need for responsibly made paper products. The emerging ‘green’ building industry perhaps the most significant of these market-based initiative that preference FSC certified wood products.
The ‘green’ building industry includes both residential and commercial building projects across the United States. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) is the leader in this industry because of the widely recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. ‘Green’ buildings have been built in the past that included energy efficient features, non-toxic interior materials, operable windows, etc. These features are not new to some architects and interior designers, but LEED provides these professionals a framework that demonstrates a certain level of success.
LEED is based on achieving a certain level of success on a 69 point scale. Levels of success include Platinum (over 52 points), Gold (39-51), Silver (33-38), and Certified (26-32). The point system is broken into five categories, including Site Development, Energy Efficiency, Water Use, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. As building project teams develop concepts for their projects, features are added and subtracted according to the owner’s goals and budget. Most projects start with the ambitious goal of earning a LEED Platinum or Gold rating. As the project goes through design/development and specifications, costs are associated with specific points. If the cost of a point over extends the budget some features may be value engineered out of the project.
Material and Resources (M/R) Credit 7: Certified Wood, offers one point for use of certified wood, with FSC as the sole preference:Use a minimum of 50% (by cost) of wood-based materials and products, certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council’s Principles and Criteria, for wood building components including, but not limited to, structural framing and general dimensional framing, flooring, finishes, furnishings, and non-rented temporary construction applications such as bracing, concrete formwork and pedestrian barriers. (LEED-NC Version v2.1)
This preference was given for a number of virtues that FSC products offer over its certification competitors. One of those virtues is that FSC products need to come through a chain-of-custody (COC) supply chain that ensures where the products raw materials originated. Imagine being a city official from XYZ, a USGBC member, and building a new office building with wood products. If those products came from an FSC supplier who has a valid COC certificate you could make public comments about your commitment to forest conservation at the highest level. Now, imagine being that same city official buying wood products from a certification system without a valid COC process. Could you make all the same claims to the public, if you don’t really know where your wood products originated?
FSC wood products are not only included in M/R 7, but due to a number of credits aimed at transforming natural resource industries, wood products are addressed in a number of credits. M/R 3: Material Re-use, can cover salvaged wood products that were re-used with only superficial changes. M/R 4: Recycled-Content, refers to the responsible use of products that contain a level of recycled material. M/R 5: Local Materials, gives credit to project teams that employ finished products manufactured within 500 miles of the project site. The M/R section is not the only section where wood products are affected; Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) 4.4 Low-Emitting Materials requires that composite wood must not contain ‘added urea-formaldehyde.’ This is in accordance with a growing movement to improve indoor air quality and avoid ‘sick building syndrome.’
As project teams become familiar with the LEED rating system and the various points offered, they start to see places where they can stack points together. A specification that attempts this strategy could read as, “Particleboard must be FSC certified, recycled-content, with ‘no added urea-formaldehyde,’ and manufactured within 500 miles of the project.” Most of us know that this product probably does not exist in the forest products industry. So you might be asking yourself, “Why are these people asking for products that don’t exist?” Well, this product could be attributed to earning four points. On a 69 point scale, earning four points from one product can get you off to a great start.
The key to success for FSC certificate holders is to first become familiar with LEED as the national standard and any local residential standards that may be in place in your city, region, or state. Once there is an understanding of these standards and their goals you will find credits that match your products. There may also be some opportunity for new products that fit a number of credits. Understanding what the architects and contractors are looking for is the first step. Next, you need to communicate to these industries that you can provide them with the types of products that will help them reach their ‘green’ building standard. Marketing and communication to these industries is important because they are beginning to learn about forest certification and what FSC means. Performing outreach to the architect firms in your sales region that are ‘green’ building leaders will get you on the path to selling products into these types of projects. Some forms of outreach include lunchtime presentations; exhibiting at national tradeshows, such as USGBC’s Greenbuild; marketing collateral that can sell your product and demonstrate how that product will assist a projects ‘green’ building goals.
The design and construction industry is in the middle of a movement that will result in buildings being less of an energy liability; healthier places to work; built with responsibly produced materials; and not located in sensitive ecosystems. The forest products industry is also witnessing a movement towards more accountability for forest management practices; fewer toxins in finished products; ending illegal logging; and providing products that truly show-off woods everlasting characteristics. The bottom-line is that the design and construction, and forest products industries need to continue to educate each other as they evolve. Companies that begin a new dialogue and introduce their FSC-certified products to new and old customers will have a true market advantage. ‘Green’ building and FSC certification is a perfect match and they both guarantee that these industries are moving in the right direction.