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Wood: the Pluses, the Minuses, and the Neutrals

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This blog is intended for anyone who’s interested in being more environmentally conscious and wants to further analyze how everyday things are made. When we think about building materials we usually think about wood. It's one of the most sophisticated materials that has been around for more than 400 million years. Wood is a uniquely renewable resource because it requires almost no energy to make, but changing its form from a tree to a house requires taking a closer look at the process.  The process of making a 2x4 starts way before hitting the shelves at hardware stores. The harvesting process consists of selecting mature trees to sustain forest health. The logs are then loaded into trucks and transported to a sawmill where they are measured to estimate the volume of lumber it will produce. A machine will remove the outer bark from the logs. That bark is mostly used for fuel or mulch while the log is being processed. A computerized band saw cuts through the log into thick slabs and...
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All Feedstocks, Biorenewables Included, Have to be Sourced From Somewhere

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This blog is intended for anyone who’s interested about biorenewable resources and how it relates to plants and forests while also wanting to be more environmentally conscious. Biorenewable resources or biomass, are organic and recently living materials such as crops, forestry residues, and waste. They can be quickly replenished to produce chemicals, energy and fuel. They help provide a sustainable and eco-friendly environment and provide an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. Plants are similar to solar panels in a way where they convert energy from the sun and convert it into carbohydrates which are used to make plant cells. Biomass growth is powered by solar energy and the production of bioproducts requires much less energy than making mineral based products.  The ability of plants to convert solar energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis makes them a source of biorenewable feedstocks. This process synthesizes a range of organic compounds which is the basis for m...
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Consumption, Resources, and the Environment: What You Need to Know

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  This blog is intended for anyone who’s interested in being more environmentally conscious and wants to better understand the link between their lifestyle and how it relates to the environment. Have you ever stopped and looked around at the things in your house such as your electronic devices, lamps, and decor, and wondered where it comes from? We are so focused on everything in our little “bubble” that we don’t look around and wonder how these items affect our environment. To better understand the current environmental crisis, we need to look at three things. How our consumption is tied to the environmental crisis, how the carbon cycle reacts, and the results of climate change. We looked at how humans rely on renewable and non-renewable resources. We currently consume natural resources 1.7 times faster than the Earth can regenerate them. It's driven by population growth and overconsumption lifestyles in developed nations. Reserves to production (R/P) ratio measures how many years...
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