Category Archives: Forestry

Compromise on LEED Certification

The bill proposing to prevent state construction projects  from   seeking  “green building” certification  under LEED  standards  (House Bill 628) appears to be moving toward a compromise.  An earlier post described the controversy over  LEED standards for wood products.  Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee approved a  new – and entirely rewritten – version of  House Bill 628.  You can find the new bill draft here. The Senate version of House Bill 628 does two things:

  1.  The bill adds entirely  new  language on  energy efficiency standards for state construction projects. The Senate bill  would  change existing law to only require state construction projects to meet more aggressive energy efficiency standards adopted by the General Assembly  in 2008  if the result would be a net savings in construction and operating costs.  To calculate “net savings”, the bill uses construction costs added to operating costs for the first ten years after completion (as compared to building the same structure without meeting the energy efficiency standards).   The committee heard some concerns about using ten years of operating costs to calculate net savings.  Apparently most energy efficiency construction contracts use 15-20 years as the time period for recovery of costs and calculation of net savings.  Senator Tommy Tucker, who offered the amended bill language in committee, said that he would be willing to consider a different time period as long as it is reasonable.
  2. The bill completely replaces the original House Bill 628 language on acceptable  “green” building certification.  The Senate version would allow state construction projects to  use any energy efficiency/environmental design rating system that  “(i) provides certification credits for, (ii) provides a preference to be given to, (iii) does not disadvantage, and (iv) promotes building materials or furnishings, including masonry, concrete, steel, textiles, or wood that are manufactured or produced within the State”.   The LEED rating system seems to meet that requirement by  providing  specific credits for use of  regional  materials. You can find the list of LEED credits available for new building construction/major renovation projects here.    A new commercial building must meet basic  LEED  requirements  and earn a minimum of 40 points on a 110-point  rating  scale to get  LEED certification. Use of wood products meeting  Forest Stewardship Council standards  can provide one  point, but use of regionally sourced  building materials can provide  two  points  (if 20% of the building materials meet the regional material standard).

A footnote on the issue of LEED certification and  use of N.C.  wood products: There has been an ongoing fight over what should count as “sustainable” forestry. (See the earlier post  on a recent complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission about  “green” labelling for wood products.) Setting that aside,  concerns about the  impact of LEED certification on use of N.C. wood products  may   also come  from  the  way architects translate LEED standards into specifications for individual construction projects   The  House bill sponsor, Representative Michele Presnell,  used an example of major renovations at Tryon Palace (a colonial era building in New Bern) where the material specifications required use of wood products meeting Forest Stewardship Council  standards. Although major wood producers are located within a stone’s throw of Tryon Palace,  Representative Presnell said  they were closed out of bidding because none of those producers operate under FSC  standards.   I don’t have any direct knowledge of the specifications for the Tryon Palace project, but if that happened it seems to be an unnecessary result even under LEED standards. With a 110-point rating system, there are many different ways to reach the  40 points needed for LEED certification.  It is possible to reach  LEED certification without relying on the one point for wood products at all. (And the wood products credit only requires that 50% of the permanent wood products used in the building meet the FSC  standard.)

A conversation between the N.C. forest products industry and the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects about how specifications for LEED projects can be written to support use of N.C. products might benefit the industry even more than legislation.

House Bill 628 is on the Senate calendar today and will then go to a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions.

More Conflict Over Sustainable Forestry

June 2, 2013

An earlier post talked about the conflict over sustainable forestry practices behind House Bill 628.

The bill would prevent any new state building project from seeking certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for “green” buildings. The reason — few North Carolina timber producers meet the LEED standard for wood, making their  wood products less competitive for projects seeking LEED certification.   The unusual thing about the conflict is that it has nothing to do with laws or rules.  The decision to seek LEED certification as a “green” building is voluntary on the part of the builder.  A timber operation can decide  to follow the forestry practices necessary to meet the LEED standard for wood products — or not.  House Bill 628 is part of a larger effort by the timber industry to be more competitive in supplying wood for  “green” building projects, but under  a competing set of forestry practice standards developed by the Sustainable Forest Initiative — a program  created  by the forest products industry.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that ForestEthics  and Greenpeace have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charging that the Sustainable Forest Initiative  defrauds the public by  certifying wood and paper products as environmentally sustainable.  The FTC has responsibility for enforcing truth in labeling standards and has found itself in the middle of a number of controversies over “green” product claims. In October 2012, the FTC  released new  guidelines for  “green” product labeling that for the first time include recommended standards for certification programs.

The ForestEthics/Greenpeace complaint  argues that wood products from operations following  Sustainable Forest Initiative standards  are no more environmentally sustainable than other wood products. The two organizations particularly criticize the standards  as allowing overuse of pesticides and clear-cutting and providing too little protection for endangered species. The complaint also claims that the Sustainable Forest Initiative board cannot be considered an independent “green” product certification agency under the  new FTC guidelines because of the  influence of the timber industry.  You can find the full New York Time article here.

The FTC complaint is just the most recent in a series of  skirmishes involving ForestEthics and the Sustainable Forest Initiative. There is no question that the  forest products industry started the Sustainable Forest Initiative; it  began  as a program developed by  the American Forest and Paper  Association.  The Sustainable Forest Initiative certification program now operates as separate nonprofit organization with a governing board that includes representatives of environmental organizations.  ForestEthics argues  that organizational separation from the industry association did not  eliminate  timber industry  influence over the Sustainable Forest Initiative, citing the makeup of the board and its reliance on industry funding. You can find a list of current Sustainable Forest Initiative board members here.

The New York Times reported that it could be months before the public learns whether the FTC has opened a formal investigation of the ForestEthics/Greenpeace complaint.

In the meantime, House Bill 628 has passed the House.  On the Senate side, the bill has been referred to the  Agriculture and Environment Committee.

House Bill 628 : It’s Not Easy Being “Green”

May 7, 2013:  I just learned of  House Bill 628 (Protect/Promote N.C. Lumber)  today and set out to understand why the N.C. General Assembly would  want to stop  state construction projects from trying to  meet energy efficiency and environment sustainability standards. The short answer may be a perfect symbol of the  current environmental moment — an industry has asked the state legislature to do something to influence  a private nonprofit organization’s voluntary  environmental sustainability standards  because those standards set a higher bar than the industry wants to meet  to get credit for being “green”.

First, House Bill 628 really protects and promotes the particular type of “green” certification for  wood products supported by the N.C. Forestry Association. Certification of products and buildings as energy efficient and environmentally sustainable has become both an environmental movement and a marketing tool.  “Green” labels on consumer products appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. A green building certification appeals to those same consumers and to large institutions (public and private) interested in  environmental protection or cost savings from energy and water efficiency.  That consumer appeal gives a “green” label economic power and a war is currently raging over the kind of forestry practices that should get credit toward green product labels and green building certification.

House Bill 628 wades into the green building controversy. The U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization,  has developed the most widely known and accepted standards for environmentally sustainable and energy efficient construction.  The Green Building Council’s  program gives credit toward LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building certification for use of wood products that meet standards set by  the Forest Stewardship Council. You can find more information on LEED certification standards here.

The American  Forest and Paper Association created its own set of sustainable forestry standards in the 1990s.  The Forest and Paper Association’s  Sustainable Forests Initiative has since separated from the industry organization and operates as an independent nonprofit that maintains voluntary standards for sustainable forestry practices and  certifies  forestry operations meeting those standards.  The forest products industry has pushed the U.S. Green Building Council to give credit toward LEED certification for use of wood from a forestry operation certified by the Sustainable Forests Initiative, but the Green Building Council has resisted the change.

One afternoon has not been enough to fully understand the differences between certification under the Sustainable Forests Initiative versus the Forest Stewardship Council, so I am not going to try to resolve the controversy over their relative merits.  For purposes of understanding the political fight, conservation organizations believe the Forest Stewardship Council standards used for LEED certification do a better job of protecting endangered species and old growth forests and are less likely to result in clear-cutting.  The forest products industry prefers the Sustainable Forests Initiative standards as less costly and sustainable enough.

What does House Bill 628 do?

●   It prevents any future state construction projects from seeking LEED Certification.  (The bill only allows state projects to seek green building certification from a program that gives credit under the Sustainable Forests Initiative and uses standards approved by the American National Standards Institute.  The LEED program does not meet either of those requirements.) The move away from LEED certification for state buildings  will likely set back efforts to push state construction projects to greater energy and water efficiency and a smaller environmental footprint.

●   Ironically, the bill may hurt other North Carolina industries that benefit from LEED standards encouraging use of local materials.  A representative from Nucor Steel (a North Carolina-based company that produces steel from recycled   materials)   spoke against the bill in the House Agriculture Committee meeting today  and noted the value of  LEED standards as an incentive to use of domestic steel in construction.

Is there an offsetting benefit to the North Carolina lumber industry? That is not clear. Nothing the N.C. General Assembly does can compel the U.S. Green Building Council to change  LEED standards; it is entirely possible that House Bill 628 will order the state to abandon LEED certification for state construction projects without achieving any change in LEED standards for wood products.  It also isn’t clear that the LEED standard for wood represents a real barrier to use of North Carolina lumber.  The LEED standard for wood represents a very small part of the LEED green building certification. A commercial building must meet basic  LEED  requirements  and earn a minimum of 40 points on a 110-point  rating system scale for  LEED certification. Meeting the wood standard  just provides one point.   The wood standard itself is modest —  a builder can earn that one point by using only 50% (based on cost) of wood-based materials and products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council for permanent building components( such as framing and floors); temporary construction materials do not count against the percentage.

It is also difficult to argue that the LEED standards disadvantage N.C.  products, when each  N.C. forestry operation can choose to meet  the  voluntary Forest Stewardship Council certification standards that  receive credit  toward  LEED certification. The real issue is that N.C. wood producers want the benefits of a “green” product label — but also want to set the standards for being “green”.