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Dovetail Commentary: Why We Can't Live Without Nanotechnology, Solar Power and Carbon Fiber Mats Dovetail Report: Solid Wood Products: Green Materials or the Bane of Environmental Sustainability? Dovetail News: Eco-Affordable
Housing Project Report Available -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All commentaries
are available online. Why
We Can't Live Without Nanotechnology, Solar Power and Carbon Fiber Mats One of the most exciting developments in science these days is the combination of the new capabilities provided by nanotechnology and new organic-based materials, such as the carbon fiber used on stealth fighters. Almost a year ago, Dovetail reported on the exciting possibilities nanotechnology offers the forest product industry. There is no question of the benefits that nanotechnology will bring to both biomedical and electrical engineering. But, the potential benefit to the “green” products marketplace is virtually endless. Completely new and complex, self-assembling structural materials may be possible in the not too distant future, and new organic materials may vastly expand our ability to construct extremely strong and lightweight parts ideal for “high tech” and “low impact” products. Envision a solar powered factory that is able to produce a wide range of highly complex lightweight products with great strength characteristics, extremely efficient use of materials, and virtually no waste. Sound exciting? How about extremely feasible? To read the commentary online, click here. To download
the commentary (pdf, 220k), click
here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All reports are
available online.
Solid
Wood Products: Green Materials or the Bane of Environmental Sustainability? Dr. Jim Bowyer Environmentally preferable products are attracting great interest these days. After years of apparent indifference, people everywhere are beginning to ask questions about the products they buy, sell, and specify. Nowhere is this trend more apparent than in the architectural/building design and engineering community where “green building” guidelines and programs have become the hottest topic in years. Focused largely on energy efficiency and occupant health and safety, each of the green building programs (GBPs) also considers environmental attributes of building materials.
The environmentally preferable product lists of leading GBPs make interesting reading. Patterns quickly emerge, providing a roadmap of what is “in” and what is “out.” Curiously, in several of the better known GBPs, lumber in virtually any form is “out.” So too is plywood. Engineered wood products are “in,” especially if certified as from a sustainable source, as are a myriad of products from steel to concrete.
Given the many positive environmental attributes of minimally processed wood, it is worth considering how materials such as lumber and plywood came to be on the “out” list and how these materials compare with those products that are “in.” In this article, provisions of one of the nation's most rapidly growing GBPs – the Atlanta Earth Craft House program – is examined. While the focus here is on the Atlanta program, it is worth noting that several other popular GBPs have similar provisions. To download the
report, click here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eco-Affordable Housing Project Report Available Dovetail Partners has completed a project report for the "Aitkin FSC Home", the pilot project of Dovetail's Eco-Affordable Housing Program. The report summarizes the program goals and project outcomes including the energy-efficient design and use of locally-harvested and locally-manufactured wood products, most of which were FSC-certified. The report is available to download at (pdf, 4.8 MB): http://www.dovetailinc.org/documents/DovetailProjectReportJune2007.pdf “The Outlook” is the monthly e-newsletter of Dovetail Partners Inc, a 501c3 non profit corporation. More than 10,000 people receive The Outlook each month. To
Subscribe, click here. Dovetail Partners is a highly skilled team that fosters sustainability and responsible behaviors by collaborating to develop unique concepts, systems, models, and programs. For
information about donating to Dovetail, click
here. |
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