The Outlook
June 2008

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W e l c o m e

This month we provide a couple of forest certification updates, including a regional look at the Great Lakes and an update on the  FSC.  We also take a look at the old-fashioned question of what makes a good window.

I hope you enjoy our newsletter and will consider making a donation to support our work.  Dovetail Partners is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, your contribution is tax-deductible and -- you can make a donation online today!

Enjoy!

- Jeff   

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I n   T h i s   I s s u e:

C o m m e n t a r y:

In Choosing Windows for Green Building, Old News is Good News!

R e p o r t s:

The Great Lakes Region: A Forest Certification Hub
A 6-Month Status Report

Forest Certification Update: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

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D o v e t a i l    C o m m e n t a r y

More Dovetail Commentaries are available online.

In Choosing Windows for Green Building, Old News is Good News!

Dr. Jeff Howe

Recently I was involved in a debate with a very knowledgeable window expert who insisted that casement windows were absolutely the best choice for a home today given the major concerns with energy use and the environment.   This led to a group discussion about why double hung windows even exist anymore anyway, given their apparent weakness in resisting air infiltration.

Apparently, with seven extremely knowledgeable window people in the room   (including three window manufacturers and four building material experts), I was the only one old enough to remember why double hung windows were created in the first place.

To understand why different window types exist, I use the following summary as a “rule of thumb” on how to choose a window type.   Basically there are six considerations for picking the right window.

For the complete article:

http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0608.html

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D o v e t a i l   R e p o r t s

All reports are available online.

The Great Lakes Region: A Forest Certification Hub
A 6-Month Status Report

Kathryn Fernholz

In November 2007, Dovetail Partners issued a report that highlighted the results of 10-years of forest certification leadership in the Great Lakes Region. . Over the past decade the Great Lakes Region, including the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Province of Ontario, has become a hub for forest certification.

As of late 2007, the three states included in this region, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, represented 29% of the certified forestland in the United States, including 50% of the land certified through the FSC program and 19% of the SFI-Certified lands.   Similarly, in Canada, the Province of Ontario alone represented 49% of the FSC-Certified lands and 19% of the SFI-Certified lands in Canada.   Taken together, these three states and one province encompassed 30% of the forestlands certified under these programs in North America.

In the 6-months since that report, certification activities in the Great Lakes Region have undergone another wave of growth, and further accomplishments are expected before the end of 2008.

http://www.dovetailinc.org/reports/pdf/DovetailRegCertUpdateV20608ey.pdf

Forest Certification Update: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

Matthew Wenban-Smith
 

In 2004 and 2005 Dovetail Partners released a series of reports outlining the major forest certification programs, followed in April 2007 by a report highlighting subsequent changes within the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) program. This latest report considers recent changes to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) program.

In September 2004, when Dovetail first reported on the FSC, the program was already established as a global endeavor with nearly 125 million acres of forest certified in 62 countries, and over 4,000 companies certified to sell FSC-labeled product.   Since then the figures have more or less doubled.   As of June 2008, FSC reports a certified forest area of 280 million acres, and 9,106 chain-of-custody certificates held in 79 countries.  

FSC remains the leading forest certification program in terms of market penetration and is the only program that can be described as truly global in the sense of applying the same set of Principles and Criteria to all certificate holders regardless of country or region. The FSC includes certified forests and plantations in tropical, temperate and boreal regions, and chain of custody certified manufacturers and suppliers worldwide.

http://www.dovetailinc.org/reports/pdf/DovetailFSCupdate0608eg.pdf

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