wood Archives - Page 7 of 8

Trend Watch: Sustainable Wood A Hot New Material for Eyewear

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

Eco-friendly wood is now a stylish option for both prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, available in a variety of species and finishes from brands like GROWN, Proof, Drift and Siempre Verde. Unlike plastic frames, wood won’t keep your skin in constant contact with potentially harmful substances like bisphenol-A (BPA). Natural and renewable, wood frames can be designed to show off the material or resemble more conventional eyewear. This trend represents just one more example of wood showing up in places you wouldn’t expect, like luxury cars and as a main material for skyscrapers.

GROWN

GROWN (pictured above) is a sustainable wooden eyewear brand that funds sight-restoring surgery for one individual, or twelve eye exams for children, for every pair of shades purchased. All GROWN sunglasses are handcrafted from durable bamboo and hardwoods, free of harmful substances.

Proof Sunglasses

Proof offers both sunglasses and prescription glasses in a wide range of colors and styles, with frames made from wood, stainless steel, and other eco-friendly materials like plant-based acetate. All eyewear in the Eco Collection is 100% renewable, biodegradable and hypoallergenic, and come in a custom wood case with a microfiber pouch.

Hardwood Frames by Drift Eyewear

Drift eyewear’s Timber Collection is crafted from salvaged hardwood from places like a renovated building in New York City’s Meatpacking District. The frames are carefully designed to have optimal weight distribution on all points that touch the face for the highest comfort level possible.

Prescription Glasses in Wood Frames by Siempre Verde

Siempre Verde sells upscale, handcrafted prescription wood eyewear – including the lenses – with home delivery. That means you don’t have to buy the frames and take them to a local optometrist; you just send in your custom prescription and your eco-friendly wooden eyeglasses will be made just for you.

Trend Watch: Sustainable Wood Trim Showing Up in Luxury Cars

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

If you think wood trim in cars is a relic of the ’70s that’s not likely to come back any time soon, a few luxury automakers would like to correct that notion. BMW, Lexus and Fisker Automotive are among the car brands bringing wood back in a big way – and we’re not talking strips of faux wood grain applied to the sides of station wagons. Sustainable wood is showing up in the form of decorative interior accents in hybrid and electric vehicles.

Fisker Automotive’s Karma, a plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan, features wood trim sourced from fallen, sunken and rescued wood, ensuring that no live growth is ever used. Fallen wood comes from fallen trees in the western United States, while sunken wood has been raised from the bottom of Lake Michigan where it has been submerged for over 300 years. Rescued wood is recovered from trees damaged by wildfires in California.

Toyota chose bamboo trim for the Lexus GS, applying it to the steering wheel as well as the doors, dash and console. Says the company of this unusual choice, “Bamboo, as many Lexus fans have noticed, is gaining more and more traction in Lexus components, largely because the engineering teams keep finding ways to use this sustainable material to help improve the Lexus experience. Bamboo is dense and stable. It’s also highly sustainable: some varieties can grow by 100 centimeters a day. Lexus-grade bamboo takes between three and four years to mature, still more than 10 times quicker than the 40 to 50 years taken by conventional woods.”

BMW integrated a panel of eucalyptus wood into its i3 plug-in electric car, sourced from certified sustainably managed European forests. And for the Ram Laramie Longhorn pickup truck, Chrysler chose European walnut from trees that were once used as fence posts. The wood still bears markings from barbed wire in a nod to the pickup’s rugged utility.

Images via: Fisker Automotive, Lexus Enthusiast

Wood Biomass: Renewable Power from Logging Waste

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

Have you ever thought about all of the scraps of wood that are produced as a byproduct of the lumber industry? Once harvested wood is cut and milled, there’s a lot of bark, sawdust and other forms of wood left behind. In the past, much of that wood was simply wasted, but today – with the rise of biomass as a form of renewable energy – it’s helping to power our world in a way that’s far better for the environment and our health than the burning of fossil fuels.

Sustainable biomass is a critical component of a clean energy future. There’s a wide range of biomass resources, ranging from wood waste sourced from the logging and paper industries to crops like switchgrass and even chicken litter. In addition to industry waste wood, which still makes up the majority of biomass burned for power in the United States, energy can be produced from the combustion of forest wood and woody residue.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, thinning out small-diameter and dead trees from overcrowded forests and harvesting the byproducts of forest management (limbs, needles, leaves, etc.) not only improves the health of the trees left behind in the forest, it’s also a valuable opportunity to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and our greenhouse gas emissions.

Biomass is considered renewable because the carbon stored within trees and released back into the atmosphere remains the same, whether the trees are burned or left to decompose in the natural cycle. If new trees are planted as quickly as the harvested ones are burned, the carbon cycle is balanced. The key to keeping this process sustainable is planting trees for biomass on otherwise unproductive land, or only using byproducts of forest management, rather than cutting down forests specifically for biomass.

Biomass is converted to power in a variety of ways, including direct combustion, in which it is burned to create steam and turn turbines, and co-firing, a process in which it is mixed with coal. Learn more about the technicalities of how biomass works at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Home Building Materials: Why Choose Wood?

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

Wood is among the most ancient of building materials, used to create a stunning array of human dwellings all around the world in places where plentiful trees have long made it a natural choice. But with so many other materials now available to the modern home builder, why choose wood? There are a range of excellent reasons to consider building with wood rather than environmentally questionable composites, plastic-based materials, and steel.

Warm, cozy and full of character

Imagine walking into your new home and taking a deep breath. In a structure that’s made mostly of wood, you’ll inhale a comforting natural fragrance with no worries about what you’re taking into your lungs. Do the same in a house that’s filled with PVC, linoleum flooring and other synthetic materials, and you’re likely dosing yourself with potentially carcinogenic substances.

Each knot and tiny imperfection in a length of wood tells a story about the tree from which it came. It brings to mind peaceful forests where tall trees full of birds, squirrels and other wildlife sway gently in the wind. These qualities tie a living space to the natural world, giving it a sense of tranquility that can’t be matched by other materials.

Natural, renewable and sustainable

When you purchase sustainably grown wood, such as Eastern White Pine, you’re fueling demand for large tracts of forest where trees are allowed to grow strong and tall as an integral part of local ecosystems before they’re harvested. The value of Eastern White Pine as a green building material is a strong incentive for land owners to preserve woodland habitats and log their trees according to strict standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council and other third-party organizations.

Learn more about the sustainability of Eastern White Pine versus plantation-grown pines.

Image via: Trophy Amish Cabins

Trend Watch: Woodworking Jobs Boom, Learning Centers Pop Up

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

A beautiful new wood construction center at Seattle Central Community College has been built in response to an uptick in woodworking jobs, giving area residents a modern space in which to learn old-world craftsmanship. Many trades took a hit during the recession, but recent projections show that demand for wood products is experiencing a slow but steady increase. That includes new housing construction and remodeling.

“Residential construction will drive much of that growth, with pent-up demand for housing, moderately rising home prices, and growing consumer confidence having the most influence,” says Craig Adair, market research director of APA, the Engineered Wood Association.

Many of the woodworkers taking advantage of the new Seattle facility are new to the craft, coming to it from professions ranging from fishermen to physicians. At the workshop, students learn basic woodworking skills while working on community projects, like turning lumber from trees cut in a local park into picnic benches for that same park.

In addition to cabinetry and carpentry, the center teaches boat building. The center recently acquired a 28-foot cruiser built on Lake Union in the 1920s. The boat, which is no longer seaworthy, will be rebuilt again and again over the coming years as students learn to make repairs, restore rotted areas, and remodel the interior.

Woodworking learning centers aren’t limited to college campuses. Small, private schools like the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine also teach traditional skills, with hands-on, in-depth training. Community woodworking shops are another new trend, offering shared equipment for a fee.

Photos: Seattle Central Community College

Timber in the City: Design Contest Encourages Sky-High Wood Structures

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

Another design contest promoting wood for urban projects could lead to even more large-scale wood architecture in the United States. Timber in the City encourages students and recent graduates to consider wood, a renewable resource, as a main material for tall structures. In addition to being affordable and sustainable, wood helps to provide healthy living and working environments.

The competition is organized by the Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC), Parsons The New School for Design, and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). BSLC executive director Cees de Jager notes that even though U.S. building codes allow wood-framed structures to reach five stories, it’s used in only 12 to 15 percent of mid-rise construction.

Contest entrances will design a mid-rise, mixed-use complex of affordable housing units made primarily of wood for Red Hook, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Winning teams will get cash prizes of $30,000. De Jager hopes that the contest will result in more architects initiating taller wood-built structures, and that wood buildings as tall as 16 to 20 stories will someday be possible in the United States.

This contest comes after architect Michael Green initiated a revolution in wood construction, unveiling a concept for a 30-story tower in Vancouver. Green’s project is made from laminated strand lumber. The architect has made his plans and an instruction manual on wooden skyscrapers available to other designers in order to spur on rapid innovation.