Help to finance renewable energy projects arrives!

Although many of us would love to incorporate renewable energy into our homes and make those energy efficiency improvements that will lower our utility bills, the upfront financing needed can be the roadblock that makes it seem impossible. Today marked a huge win for homeowners as the PACE legislation was signed into law, providing an opportunity for Minnesota homeowners to make those green dreams come true.

Read more below (information via Fresh Energy)

PACE: Financing Small Renewable & Efficiency Projects

Among homeowners and small business owners who clearly understand the long term financial and environmental benefits of installing small renewable energy projects and energy efficiency improvements, one of the biggest hurdles is the up-front cash expenditure needed. One innovative approach is a concept called PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy). PACE is a low-interest funding mechanism that a municipal financing district or finance company may choose to offer to homeowners or small businesses to cover the up-front costs. The loans are then repaid over a set period of time via an annual assessment on the property tax bill.

The concept is not a new one; it is very similar to tax assessments made for new sidewalks or streetlights, but only applies to an individual property where the improvement is made. The PACE strategy can result in annual individual savings outweighing the annual individual assessments. PACE adds a financing option to individual debt or home equity debt. One advantage is that it avoids the need to utilize personal credit for the loans.

15 other states have already passed legislation that enables local entities to implement PACE financing. This year Fresh Energy has been working to pass PACE legislation in Minnesota - HF 3109 and SF 2720 - to help spur small-scale renewable and efficiency projects and create clean energy jobs. Recently the bill was incorporated into the Omnibus Jobs Bill, H.F. 2695; passed by both houses; and signed in to law by the Governor on April 1, 2010. PACE will help create jobs, improve the housing and building stock in our communities, and lessen demand for energy - thereby reducing the need for expensive new power plants and transmission lines. We eagerly anticipate implementation of this legislation.

Free Neighborhood Sustainability Conference

It's not often that a sustainability conference this good is offered for free. It's this weekend - take advantage of it!!

2010 Twin Cities Neighborhood Sustainability Conference

Minnesota Appliance Rebate

It's the moment we've all been waiting for... help buying those energy-efficient appliances!

Starting this Monday, March 1st, at 8:00am, the Minnesota’s Office of Energy Security has $5 million available for Minnesotans buying energy-efficient appliances (clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and freezers). All you have to do is reserve a rebate (not until March 1st).

The two primary goals of the rebate are to improve the energy efficiency of appliances in Minnesota, and to safely dispose of old ones. The appliance must be Energy Star rated.

The program is likely to catch on quickly, so sign up before the funds are gone.

Click here for more information on the Trade-In and Save program.

Become a GreenStep City

Interested in taking steps to make your city greener, save energy, and help address climate change? Take a look at GreenStep Cities.

GreenStep Cities is a voluntary system that helps recognize the actions your community has taken to improve sustainability and energy efficiency. It also offers a set of best practices to help guide your community to becoming even more sustainable.

The Minnesota USGBC Advocacy Committee is hosting a Sustainable Communities Forum on GreenStep Cities on March 4 (more details below). Representatives from the City of Apple Valley, a GreenStep Cities pilot community, will speak of their experiences. The City of Saint Paul will also present their new Sustainable Building Policy. Small group discussions will focus on answering questions about the best practices of GreenStep Cities. Cost of the event is free but registration is recommended. Contact Rita Trapp to RSVP and call 612-252-7135 with questions.

Thursday, March 4, 2010
12:00-1:30 pm (optional facility tours from 1:30-2:00 pm)
Hayes Community & Senior Center
14601 Hayes Road
Apple Valley, MN 55124

Funding opportunities for Energy Improvements in Minnesota

Lack of funding is the most common hurdle to incorporating energy improvements. Luckily, there are a lot of options in Minnesota to help. Thank you to CERTS-NE for keeping track of these updates!

-A Request for Proposals (RFP) is posted for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) competitive funding; responses are being accepted through January 25, 2010. The RFP is available for download here.

-Questions and answers from the November 10, 2009 Local Government Programs Webinar are now available in the Resources section of the Department of Commerce website.

-Energy Saver residential energy efficiency rebates through the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) are now available to those who qualify for Fix-up Fund loans. This includes funding for renewable energy. More information can be accessed here.

-Project ReEnergize, the residential energy efficiency rebate program, has limited remaining funds available. Homeowners can apply for rebates through eligible licensed contractors listed on the Project ReEnergize website. Rebates are available for qualifying energy efficiency improvements, including Energy Star window replacements, advanced attic air sealing, and attic and wall insulation.

-More information on stimulus-funded energy programs can be found at www.energy.mn.gov. If you have questions, please contact energy.info@state.mn.us or 800-657-3710.

Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind

Are you or your community interested in wind energy, but are looking for concrete examples of successful projects from which to learn before you begin?


The Minnesota Project just released the report Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind, which seeks to advance the development of community-based wind projects in the United States. The report highlights keys to success and policy recommendations from three Midwestern wind project case studies. It can be a useful start for communities that are not only searching for information on the basic concept and structure of wind energy, but are also seeking strategies to address potential economic and political challenges.

Click here to download the report.

Click here to learn more about The Minnesota Project.

The truth about Solar in Minnesota

I recently returned from Greenbuild in Phoenix, where the Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona built a LEED-Platinum Zero Energy Home! The Legacy Project, constructed in 5 days, was built for around $120,000 (including building materials and donated goods and labor), and used solar panels to offset the energy use in the home. After having a conversation with a good building contractor friend who is trying to be more green, I decided to investigate the truth about solar in Minnesota.

Does Minnesota have enough sun? Phoenix has 350 days a year of sunshine and definitely should be taking advantage of solar energy production. Minnesota actually has a lot of solar potential as well. According to the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Minnesota has more annual solar potential than Houston, Texas. They are a great resource for information on solar feasibility in Minnesota and even have a map that demonstrates solar potential. After looking at this site, you will see that while you may never create excess energy to go back into the grid, the potential for solar is definitely there. Combine this with a well-sealed house and energy-efficient appliances and living behaviors (e.g. turning off your computer when not in use), and you may be completely set!

Aren't solar panels still just too expensive? There are actually a lot of funding sources out there right now. The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency can help you find funding for your renewable energy project. Like all things, they do cost money, but as energy prices increase over the next few years, the solar panels may be paying for themselves.

So what about local options? Can you get solar panels that both travel short distances and support our local economy? Minnesota offers two solar panel production plants:

SolarSkies in Starbuck, MN
tenKsolar in Bloomington, MN

What if I just don't like the look of solar panels or am not sold on solar?

Don't forget that the sun can help in ways other than just energy production - passive solar heating (orienting a house with south-facing windows that heat a large thermal mass) and solar hot water systems work great in Minnesota!

Other renewable energy options are also available. The Clean Energy Resource Team (CERTS) network and the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society can help point you in the right direction.


So great job, Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona! Click here to see how Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota is accomplishing its own green goals.

Free Green House Plans

Even though the housing industry is not booming right now, I still receive a number of requests for green house plans from people hoping to build green in the future. Other people call for information on tips for remodeling green.

A while ago, I mentioned Free Green as a limited resource for free green plans. They have now updated their site to include more free and discounted plans, "making green building accessible to all." Click here for some of their free green house plans. Remember to consider smaller house sizes to reduce energy and resource consumption.

Dovetail Partners also lists a number of other resources for free house plans.

Of course the greenest home may be one that just needs a little green renovating. The Minnesota GreenStar Remodeling program can bring your remodeling project up to green certification standards. The REGREEN program offers guidelines for helping keep your renovation green but does not include certification. Both go beyond increasing energy efficiency and also look at aspects of indoor air quality, water and resource consumption, waste management, renewable energy production, and site impacts.

Minnesota Communities teach Swedes about farms, forests, and clean energy

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Swedes were coming to Minnesota to learn about farms and forestry as part of a "green" education exchange. Many Minnesota communities and organizations participated and the exchange led to shared knowledge, new experiences, and happy memories for both the hosts and the visitors.

Minnesota Communities teach Swedes about farms, forests, and clean energy

Swedes’ visit to Minnesota is a Learning Experience for All

Last month Minnesota became home to Swedish business partners Erik Sundell and Per Hallnevik as they traveled across the state to learn more about farming and agricultural practices.

The two decided to visit Minnesota after meeting Minnesotans Kara Slaughter and Alison Lindburg in Sweden last March. Slaughter and Lindburg were participating in the Rotary Club’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program, where they lived with host families and studied sustainability practices of Swedish communities for five weeks. Lindburg and Slaughter organized the Minnesota tour as a way to continue the education and exchange process.

“Erik and Per were especially interested in seeing harvesting operations, large farms and big machinery,” says Lindburg, director of the Eco-Affordable Housing Program of Minneapolis-based non-profit organization Dovetail Partners. “We were lucky to be able to also include clean energy production and a forestry tour.”

The tour was a collaborative effort of many organizations and communities, and included site visits and tours across Minnesota. The Minnesota Corn Growers Association and the South Central Chapter of the Sustainable Farming Association sponsored tours, including an observational visit of Sun-Opta organic and identity-preserved grain handling. One visit included picking fresh sweet corn right out of the field.

Wet weather conditions impeded the observation of harvesting practices, but other activities kept Hallnevik and Sundell busy. One day included working at the Farmers' Success grain elevator in Clark’s Grove, and another was spent touring the facilities of Hope Creamery. They also visited Aitkin, where they went on a forestry tour and remarked on the similarities in landscape to Sweden.

Common ground was discovered in the use of similar types of logging machinery on the forestry tour. One major difference was pest control – wild hogs are a major cause of agricultural crop damage in Sweden. “They also noted that our lack of biomass markets leads to more non-merchantable trees and coarse woody debris being left in the forest,” says Mark Jacobs, Aitkin County Land Commissioner. “They were not aware of any coarse woody debris retention guidelines in Sweden.”

Hallnevik and Sundell further experienced Minnesota life by staying with host families during their visit. Jim and Nancy Barbour, who hosted in Morris, found it to be a great learning experience. “It was interesting to hear about their crop rotations and to think about farming without GMO crops, which we take for granted,” says Nancy.

Jim Barbour, who gave a tour of the Biomass Gasification project at the University of Minnesota-Morris, learned “that like many American farmers, they have off-farm jobs in addition to their farming.” The Morris tour also included the University’s wind turbine, the North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory, and visits to local farms and farm machinery.

One truly Minnesotan moment occurred during a tour when an eagle flew overhead in the Morris area. “It was as if it had been staged! Just beautiful!” says Jim Barbour.

“Everyone had a great time and they really enjoyed Minnesota,” says Slaughter, tour organizer and board member of non-profit organization Renewing the Countryside. “It was great to teach them about Minnesota and watch everyone pull together to make the tour possible.”

For more information on the tour, see this article.

www.mncorn.org

www.sfa-mn.org

www.renewingthecountryside.org

www.dovetailinc.org

Made in Minnesota: sourcing local building materials

I just returned from Greenbuild 2009, and the talk this year was focused on reducing carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions. So how do you do this in your community, workplace, home, or building project? One of the simplest ways to do this is to choose local building materials.
I have talked about local in the past and thankfully, there are now even more resources to help you source local building materials right here in Minnesota.

The Dovetail Partners - Minnesota Made project assists communities in meeting sustainability goals and builds projects that use products nearest to specific communities. Dovetail works with the local contractors to put money back into the community, provides green building education, and calculates the environmental impact of using local building materials for each project. Dovetail also offers a map of local building materials and the report Green Building Materials - Made in Minnesota.

The Midwest Home Magazine - Made in Minnesota database allows you to search from over 300 products made in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Building Materials Database from the University of Minnesota's Center for Sustainable Building Research provides a wide array of technical information on building materials, including location and distance traveled for manufacturing.

Remember: not only does choosing local building materials help the environment, but it also helps the local economy!

Reality Check

Trying to figure out how to make your existing house more eco-friendly while not compromising aesthetics? Don't know where to start and think you just can't afford it?

Well the (extremely) nice folks over at Shelter Architecture are not only talented, but are offering a great deal called Reality Check. If you live in Minneapolis or Saint Paul, you can pay $400 for a two-hour on-site home consultation, which includes some rough sketches and ideas on how to make your home more sustainable. Even if you aren't looking to hire them, you should at least check out their website. They are an interesting and sustainable group to keep your eye on!

Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition

When most people think about "green building", an image of a building or a house probably comes to mind first. But true green building also encompasses aspects of the surrounding environment, such as soil compaction of the site, how water is treated on-site or flows away from the site, and connection to the streets. Even considering the reflectivity of the sidewalks and how many trees provide shade can have an impact, and choosing a site within walking distance of amenities is also important. Many green building standards address this in some way, and the USGBC has even created a standard (LEED - Neighborhood Development) specific to addressing these issues beyond just the structures themselves.

The Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition is a statewide effort that is attempting to apply good design principles to streets in Minnesota, which ties directly into green building and sustainable community development. They are looking for more coalition members and supporters, and are having a comment period until November 9th on the draft report guidelines.

The goals of the Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition are:

1. Pass a strong statewide Complete Streets policy in 2010 that includes a concrete implementation process and accountability.

2. Work to ensure ongoing statewide implementation of Complete Streets designs across all jurisdictions.

If successful, the coalition could create streets and roadways in Minnesota that are "designed and operated to be safe and accessible for pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclist, and drivers - all users, regardless of age or ability" - which all contribute to the overall sustainability of our communities.

To find more information, go to www.mncompletestreets.org or contact Ethan Fawley at 651-294-7141 and fawley@fresh-energy.org.

Project ReEnergize

Now is a great time to make home energy improvements before the winter settles in Minnesota. As part of the American Recovery and Investment Act, funds are now available to cover portions of improvements that make your home more energy efficient via Project ReEnergize. A home qualifies if it was constructed prior to year 2000 and is 3,000 square feet or less. There are no income restrictions to qualify, and this rebate can be combined with other incentives property owners may receive. Homeowners must have permission to alter the house's shell, and licensed contractors are required to qualify for the rebate. Second homes, mobile homes, condos, and rental properties do not apply.

A few examples of items that qualify for rebate are below; there are more. See the Project ReEnergize or Minnesota GreenStar website for more information.

Energy Efficiency Measures Eligible For Rebate	Maximum Rebate per Household
Replacement Energy Star window without attic air sealing	$250 per window
Replacement Energy Star window with attic air sealing	$300 per window
Advanced air sealing of attic	$800
Attic insulation	$800
Exterior wall insulation	$800
Replacing orphaned atmospherically vented water heater	$750

Swedes to Visit Minnesota Farms

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit Sweden to study eco-communities. The trip included small and large cities, and also a few farms. We met some Swedes that were interested in continuing the education exchange and visiting Minnesota to learn more about agriculture here. They arrive this Friday. Read the news release below for more information.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6 October 2009

Swedes to visit Minnesota Farms
Tours Part of Continued “Green” Education Exchange

From October 9-16, Minnesota will be home to two Swedish visitors interested in learning about agriculture and farming practices.

The visit is a result of a connection made through the Rotary Club’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program. Earlier this year, five Minnesotans were selected to travel to Sweden and live with host families for five weeks. That trip included tours focused on sustainability and eco-communities, including visits to sustainable farms.

The October tour in Minnesota is a collaborative effort of many organizations and communities, including two participants from the recent GSE trip to Sweden. The Minnesota Corn Growers Association and the South Central Chapter of the Sustainable Farming Association will be sponsoring tours, and participants will be staying with host families.

“We saw some really great farms when we were in Sweden,” says Kara Slaughter, GSE participant and board member of the non-profit organization Renewing the Countryside. “So when they decided to visit us here, we wanted to show them examples of great farming in Minnesota.”

This month’s tour will include farms and communities across Minnesota that demonstrate a variety of agriculture and farming practices. Tour participants will visit large-scale farming operations, organic farms, active soybean harvesting and corn hybrid test plots. The tour will likely include a visit to the Morris Biomass Gasification plant and North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory.

“The tour in Sweden was a great exchange of ideas and the people that hosted us were so generous,” says Alison Lindburg, GSE participant and staff member of the Minnesota-based non-profit organization Dovetail Partners. “It is really important that we return the favor.”

The tour is still looking for host families and outing opportunities. For more information, please contact Kara Slaughter at 612-396-7404.

###
For more information:
www.mncorn.org
www.sfa-mn.org
www.renewingthecountryside.org
www.dovetailinc.org

Contact: Alison Lindburg, alison@dovetailinc.org, 612-333-0430
Kara Slaughter, 612-396-7404

Green Building Workshops in the Lake States Region

Here are a few green building workshops happening in the Lakes States region in October and November.

7 Oct 2009. Appleton, WI: Building Systems: Retro-commissioning

8 Oct 2009. Brainerd, MN: BAELN Event: Green Business is Good Business Tour

10 Oct 2009. White Bear Lake, MN: Solar Energy: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Photovoltaics

12 Oct 2009. online: Building for the Future: Sustainable Home Design ONLINE

12 Oct 2009. Roseville, MN: MN GreenStar Project Registration Workshop

13 Oct 2009. Apple Valley, MN: Protecting Minnesota's Environment and Saving Dollars: The Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment and Apple Valley's Green Initiatives

13 Oct 2009. Pine Valley, MN: Rain Barrel DYI

14 Oct 2009. Madison, WI: Green Building Workshop Series

15 Oct 2009. Bloomington, MN: Green Growth For Business: How and Why it Benefits the Bottom Line

15 Oct 2009. Milwaukee, WI: Green Building Conference

16-17 Oct 2009. Ashland, WI: Upper Midwest Green Schools Conference

19-21 Oct 2009. Bloomington, MN: 9th Annual BioCycle Conference on Renewable Energy From Organics Recycling Conference

24 Oct 2009. White Bear Lake, MN: Solar Energy:Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Solar Water Heating

28 Oct 2009. Lansing, MI: Green Building Workshop Series

5 Nov 2009. Minneapolis, MN: Green Building Workshop Series

5 Nov 2009. online: Green Building Workshop Series

6-8 Nov 2009. Minneapolis, MN: Go Green Expo Minneapolis

17 Nov 2009. Roseville, MN: MN GreenStar Project Registration Workshop

17 Nov 2009. St. Paul, MN: E3 2009: The Midwest's Premier Energy, Economic and Environmental Conference

18 Nov 2009. online: Achieving Better Results through Design Review

18 Nov 2009. St. Paul, MN: Putting Minnesota on the Map: Next Steps for Building a Smart Grid Coalition in Minnesota

A $4750 Tree

Choosing local materials is not only good for the environment, but is also good for your local economy. This post features a guest writer, Greg Nolan of Snowy Pines Reforestation, whose article "A $4750 Tree" documents the importance of wood as a building material and demonstrates the real-time economic impact felt through the story of following just one tree.

A $4750 Tree
By Greg Nolan of Snowy Pines Reforestation 9/29/09

Several years ago I wrote an article for our local newspaper about a $3000 white pine tree (Long Prairie Leader 2/3/99). I am back with an update on another tree. Many of the things from the first article still hold true today but obviously we have refined our skills as a business with the art of marketing and utilization.

The most recent tree was bigger as it had another ten years to grow, and scaled at over 1000 board feet (Scribner). We hired a local band saw mill and target sawed this wood siding at ¾ inch thick. With the thin kerf saw blade and target sawing at ¾ inch thick, we harvested about 1500 square feet of siding and trim from this one tree. The house that we covered with siding from this tree needed about 1,200 square feet of siding. Including trim and soffit material and allowing for waste, we estimated a bid of $4750. White pine makes beautiful siding and can last over 100 years (see tobacco sheds in SW Wisconsin).

The tree, a broken-topped white pine cut near our mailbox, covered the whole house with material to spare. It was a beautiful tree that was falling apart. A portion of the top almost hit me as I pedaled past on my bike one windy day.

The embodied energy in our locally-harvested trees is mostly solar powered. Sunshine is the energy trees use to produce wood. At our mill, solar energy air-dries the wood and solar electricity runs many of our milling machines. No more than 5 gallons of diesel fuel were used to cut the tree, move it to the mill, saw the logs into siding, and deliver the material to the building site.

One gallon of fossil fuel = $1000 economic activity.

Wood is about ½ carbon by weight, which the tree removes from the atmosphere as it grows. We look at our business of milling salvage trees and installing high value, long-lived wood products as a solar-powered atmospheric carbon mining operation.

When it comes to harvesting trees and turning them into installed wood products, there is a thing called an economic multiplier. Every dollar that grows on a tree (money does grow on trees in my business) turns into about $40 in finished installed wood products. With wood flooring I sometimes see a 50 to 1 economic multiplier, and with house framing material you might only see a 30 to 1 multiplier. Most of the multiplier comes in the form of value-added labor (local high wage jobs).

About $600 of this tree’s added value went into state sales tax and self-employment tax (social security). There are also local real estate taxes figured on the finished house that will come for years to come.

When we moved onto our property over thirty years ago we counted our pole-sized (12 to 18 inch diameter) white pine trees (300) and figured if we cut 3 problem trees each year, that our family forest would have white pine trees for at least 100 years. As we cut these problem trees, more seedlings (in a variety of species) sprout into the holes we make in the forest and the trees that we leave get bigger faster than if we left them crowded. Most of the cutting, over the years, consisted of small and stunted trees but we also have taken some whoppers at times from lightning strikes and wind damage. We have seen this kind of monetary return from our lumbering activities more then once on our yearly harvest. The cull trees we cut today are much bigger then ones we cut in the past.
Our standing timber volume for the three-acre stand of white pine at Snowy Pines has increased in the past thirty years from about 20,000 board feet in 1979 (DNR timber plan) to about 65,000 board feet today (Masconomo Forestry cruise), even as we have cut our ration of two or three trees a year. This would be a production rate of about 500 board feet per acre, per year, which is on the high end but still very possible.

Snowy Pines believes that by encouraging local forestry and wood products entrepreneurs with consumer spending and government purchasing, similar stories could be replicated across the lake state region to produce hundreds if not thousands of green service and manufacturing jobs, while we improve our forests.

Sustainability Opportunities for Minnesota Based on Swedish Communities

Last March, I spent five weeks in Sweden studying eco-communities.

A report that highlights opportunities in Minnesota for sustainable communities and green building has been written based on my one-month stay in Sweden. The report, "A Tale of Green Cities: Exploring Opportunities for Minnesota through the Natural Step Process and Sustainable Communities in Sweden", was sponsored by the Blandin Foundation and was released today by Dovetail Partners in their e-newsletter. Click here to download the report.

I'm really excited by the opportunities for Minnesota presented in the report. If you or your community has any interest or questions, or if you have any comments based on the report, I'd love to hear from you.

Promoting a LEED building in the right way

I just received a very common and important question about how to promote a LEED building in the right way. Here are some helpful tips:

1. Logo use. The USGBC has specific guidelines on how their product can and cannot be used. Click here for their specific logo guidelines.

2. Promotional materials. Another common question is if there are specific guidelines to materials that are used for promotion. As far as I know, the USGBC does not have any requirements. However, this is always one way to stay in line with (and set yourself apart from) the competition. Using certified paper products, such as FSC or SFI, is growing more common. One note: a printing company needs to be chain-of-custody certified themselves in order to use the FSC logo properly. Click here to search a list of vendors that are chain-of-custody certified or sell certified wood products. If you find a company that carries certified forest products, chances are good that they'll also have soy ink, post-consumer recycled-content paper, and a myriad of other green paper options.

3. Language. There is a huge difference between a project that is registered and awaiting certification and one that has fully achieved certification. There are also some major points to be aware of when talking about environmental claims. The Real Life LEED blog covers these topics greatly in this post. Not only is it important to be aware of the differences for legal reasons, but also because consumers are more green-savvy than ever before.

Greening your existing home in Minnesota

The summer is almost over, and now is a great time to be making those energy improvements to your home! One great resource in Minnesota is the Neighborhood Energy Consortium. They can help you test your home's energy efficiency and also find energy loans, rebates and tax incentives to pay for improvements.

They also offer a great online tool which takes you room by room of a house, focusing on ways to reduce energy use without making huge improvements. Click here for the ENERGYSTAR @ Home Tool.

SFI vs. FSC vs. all the others

In the green building standards world, sustainable forest certification has been a big debate. The USGBC's LEED program only recognizes FSC, NAHB's National Green Building Standard recognizes all forest certification programs, and Minnesota GreenStar requires that any wood not from Canada or the USA is FSC-certified. So who is right? And as a consumer does it really make a difference which product I choose?

Dovetail Partners, a non-profit organization focusing on accurate non-biased environmental information, has written a few articles that outline the differences and similarities between the third-party certified sustainable forestry standards.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) - summary
FSC - update
FSC and ATFS (American Tree Farm System) - update
PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certficiation schemes) - summary
SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) - summary
SFI - update*
CSA (Canadian Standards Association) - summary
FSC & SFI report - appendix compares many forest certification programs

(*some updates included that SFI became a 3rd party Chain-of-Custody standard, that its stakeholders and board include affiliates beyond industry, and that social issues are addressed)

The truth is, when choosing between certification programs, it depends on what is important to you. But nit-picking through the details may not get you anywhere. Like green building programs, sustainable forest standards often have prerequisites and then need to meet a certain number of points to become certified. But just because one program has specific indicators does not mean that the certified forest fits all of those indicators, just like not all LEED buildings have a green roof even though it's an option in the program.

So - what to do? First, remember that if a forest is going through a third-party certified program, it means that the forest managers are dedicated on some level to sustainability. Secondly, forest in the US and Canada are in general fairly well-managed, so issues of social responsibility are not as pressing (although always important) as in some third-world countries (which is why it's a good idea for imported wood to be Chain-of-Custody certified). Third, choosing local is very important - FSC, SFI, CSA, and ATFS are also all programs local to Minnesota and the United States and/or Canada. Fourth, clear-cutting is not always bad (see Dovetail's report on why clear-cutting is necessary in some places).

And finally - wood itself is a good product. It is one of the most sustainable building materials we have. It is renewable and natural and durable, and if it's local it's helping nearby communities as well. So regardless of what certification program you choose, by choosing wood, you've made a good choice.

If you have more questions on wood certification, please contact me.

Click here to see more of Dovetail's reports on forest certification, sustainable materials, responsible consumption, and green building.