Energy efficient Finnforest solutions presented at United Nations Green Building Workshop

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