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With the increasing awareness of environmental impacts from buildings and construction, wood has become more popular for low-rise commercial building and multi-level residential building materials. The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst is building a wood structure to house classrooms, studios, computer labs, meeting rooms, a wood shop, and cafe. This "Design Building" (UM 2016) is a case study for demonstrating the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts reduction using sustainable wood materials. The internationally recognized environmental assesment tool called life-cycle assessment (LCA) offers a holistic analysis for the whole building from cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave assessment. LCA results can also be used to publish a summarized document called an environmental building declaration (EBD) to display the carbon footprint and life-cycle impacts data, similar to a nutrition label on a food package.
Gu, Hongmei
| - FPL's Mission and Strategic Plan - |
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FPL's mission is to identify and conduct innovative wood and fiber utilization research that contributes to conservation and productivity of the forest resource, thereby sustaining forests, the economy, and quality of life. ... ..more » |
| - FPL Research Emphasis Areas - |
Advanced Composites
As an integral part of the FPL mission, we improve the long-term sustainability of our Nation's forests by creating valuable composite products from biobased materials ... ..more » 
Advanced Structures
The FPL has been in the forefront of wood-frame housing research since 1910 and has long been recognized as a world leader in such housing-related areas as engineered wood ... ..more » 
Forest Biorefinery
We all know the compelling reasons that the United States needs to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Historically, the greatest increases in energy demand have been for transportation fuels ... ..more » 
Nanotechnology
A leader in wood products research for over a century, the FPL is positioning itself to become the lead Federal research facility for the application of nanotechnology in forest products ... more » 
Woody Biomass Utilization
Forests in the United States contain a substantial amount of small-diameter, overstocked, and underutilized material.FPL research projects are exploring the potential of the small-diameter ... ..more » |