12/10/2009 Finnforest, a leading supplier of demanding wood-based structures for building and construction, has been invited to present its solutions and references for energy efficient construction in connection of a Green Building Workshop organized by UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists on Forest Products Markets and Marketing. The workshop takes place in Geneva on 12 October 2009 with a theme "Responding to Climate Change: Wood's place in a global approach to green building”. One of the objectives of the workshop is to prepare messages for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, the UNFCCC COP15. “Wood products have many good properties that can contribute to climate change mitigation. However, this remains still an unexploited opportunity in climate policy”, says Mikko Ohela, SVP, International Corporate Affairs, Metsäliitto Group. “As a first step, the carbon storage in harvested wood products should be recognised by the COP15. At present the calculation rules do not reflect physical reality as they consider logging an immediate emission even though the product carbon stays out of atmosphere a prolonged time in wooden constructions.” Until today, the focus for improving the energy-efficiency of buildings has been on reducing the energy consumption during the use of the building and the carbon dioxide emissions this consumption creates.. “The perspective should be widened to cover also the phase of manufacture of building products. Wood is very energy-efficient building material throughout its whole lifecycle”, Ohela continues. Finnforest focuses on developing technically competitive as well as energy and cost efficient solutions for both residential and non-residential building,” says Mika Kallio, Head of Building Solutions business at Finnforest. “For residential building, we offer a passive house concept based on an I-beam structure developed in cooperation with the German PassivHaus Institute. For both residential and non-residential construction we have developed a multi-story concept based on Finnforest Kerto®. For commercial building, we offer a Green Store concept including a glulam frame, long span roof panel system and wooden façade panels.” Wood, from sustainably managed forests, is ecological and climate friendly building material. Its environmental impacts throughout its entire lifecycle are low: it is a totally renewable, reusable and recyclable material that can be disposed of without causing damage to the environment. Wood products store carbon keeping it out from atmosphere during the entire lifetime of products. Because wood is readily available almost everywhere, transportation costs are low. The manufacturing processes of wood-based products consume less energy and produce less emissions than those of competing materials. Wood is also a renewable source of energy, and the carbon dioxide released during incineration equals to that absorbed by the same wood volume in a growing forest. Further information: Mikko Ohela, SVP, International Corporate Affairs, Metsäliitto Group, tel. +358 50 598 8862, mikko.ohela@metsaliitto.fi
Energy efficient Finnforest solutions presented at United Nations Green Building Workshop
| Source: Metsä Wood