A new Carbon Calculator by U.S. WoodWorks helps quantify the benefits of using wood in non-residential buildings. The tools shows you how wood products continue to store carbon absorbed by the trees during their growing cycle, keeping it out of the atmosphere indefinitely. The tool also demonstrates how using wood in place of fossil fuel-intensive materials such as steel and concrete also "avoids" greenhouse gases that would have been emitted during manufacturing. Click here to visit the Calculator and to learn more.

This CEU is a primer on the latest step in that direction: environmental product declarations (EPD), which seek to provide relevant, verified and comparable information about the environmental impacts of goods and services. Under discussion will be the basics of EPDs—the information they contain, their evolution, status in North America, and how they offer real evidence of a product's environmental footprint. Examples of EPDs will be presented with a focus on the wood industry, as will a discussion of how architects can use EPDs along with other environmental rating systems in designing more sustainable structures.

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This CEU is the third of a three-part series.  It documents accepted definitions of sustainability, discusses ways in which wood contributes to sustainable design, explains the trends behind the increased use of wood as an environmentally sound building material and evaluates the impact of building rating systems and codes on environmentally sound design.  Click here to view Part 3 - A Natural Choice. 

Click here to view Part 2 - Materials in Action.

Click here to view Part 1 - Materials Matter.

This book, written by Jim Taggart, brings together ideas and insights gained from more than a decade of research, writing and lecturing on the role of wood in contemporary architecture, both in North America and abroad. To purchase a copy click here.