Role of Green Building Programs in Enhancing the Usage of Environmentally Certified Wood in the U.S. Residential Construction Industry

Abstract

The residential construction industry is the largest market for certified wood in the U.S., although low awareness among homebuyers coupled with unreliable supply and high price, provides little economic incentive for its use by homebuilders. However, the increasing use of Green Building Programs, which incentivize the use of certified wood, represents an opportunity to expand the demand for certified wood in the U.S.. This article investigates the role of the LEED for Homes green building program in increasing the awareness and usage of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood products among U.S. homebuilders. The study results are based on responses obtained from a national survey of 402 residential homebuilders and remodelers. The results reveal a strong relationship between homebuilders’ awareness and use of certified wood and their use of the LEED program. A majority of the respondents who reported using FSC certified wood cited the awarding of “green building points” within the LEED program as one of the major reasons for using certified wood. The study also found that homebuilders who were aware of certified wood, but had not yet used it, reported that “low customer demand” and “high price premium” were the main reasons for not using certified wood.

Keywords:

• certified wood
• green building programs
• homebuilder awareness

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2010-65400-20435 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Notes

Test of Independence between the familiarity of FSC and the US Regions(Pearson Chi-Square Tests): χ² → 8.1; d.f. → 9; p value → .52.

Test of Independence (Pearson Chi-Square Tests): χ² → 18.77; d.f. → 6; p value → .005.

Note: ^a → significantly higher proportion of respondents as compared to that in the large-firms category (based on two-sided tests with p value < .05).

^b → significantly higher proportion of respondents as compared to that in the small- and medium-firms category (based on two-sided tests with p value < .05).

Test of Independence (Pearson Chi-Square Tests): χ² → 60.48; d.f. → 6; p value → .000.

Note: ^a → significantly higher proportion of respondents as compared to ‘Aware’ and ‘Users’ of FSC (based on two-sided tests with p value < .05).

^b → significantly higher proportion of respondents as compared to ‘Users’ of FSC (based on two-sided tests with p value < .05).

^c → significantly higher proportion of respondents as compared to ‘Unaware’ and ‘non-Users’ of FSC (based on two-sided tests with p value <.05).