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5 Reasons Why Wood Is The Greenest Furniture Choice
Posted on April 16, 2019
When it comes to moving into a new house or simply buying furniture if you’re in need of a new bed, sofa, table or anything else, the greenest option is always to choose and buy wooden furniture. As they say, wood is good because it is an incredible environment-friendly solution for home furniture. Thus, in this article, we break it down for you and examine why wood is the most sustainable furniture material and why you should choose solid wood furniture for your furniture needs.
1. Wood Is Renewable
First of all, wood is a renewable and replenishable raw material. In fact, wood is the only building material made from sun, rain, and carbon from the air. It grows and replenishes itself every year. Many wonder if it’s viable to cut down trees while not causing harm to the environment. Fortunately, with selective harvesting – in contrast to clearcutting – it’s not a problem. As a matter of fact, as trees grow everywhere, cutting down some trees is great for forest health.
2. Wood Prevents Climate Change
Wood products are healthy for our climate. From the moment little saplings start to emerge they are already having a positive impact on the climate. Trees absorb carbon throughout their lives, which removes it from the atmosphere and is then stored in their trunks as they grow. This continues even when cut down and turned into furniture, with the storage of carbon preventing it being released into the atmosphere and causing greenhouse effect.
But it doesn’t stop there. Eventually, we can reclaim the solar energy stored in wood at the end of the product life cycle by burning wood for energy. Reusing wood for energy like this is a great way to displace dirty, non-renewable, and carbon-emitting energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas.
3. Wood Means Zero Waste
Here’s another reason why wood is so good from a sustainability perspective. Thanks to improvements in technology over the last few decades, wood manufacturing has become a zero waste industry. Bi-products from every stage of the production process can be reused and re-purposed. When wood is harvested, a percentage of it is processed into lumber, some of it is converted into other wood products, and still more of it is recovered for energy production. But none of it goes to waste.
4. Wood Lasts A Long Time
Wood is incredibly resilient and can last for many decades. Just think about all the old places you visit; churches always have wooden pews that have sometimes been around for over a hundred years and sat on by thousands of people, yet are still in good working order. Simply take good care of any wooden furniture and you might not have to buy any more, saving you time, money and having a positive impact rather than constantly buying new cheap furniture.
5. Wood Provides Many Options
Trees can grow almost anywhere and there are many different varieties used for building and furniture purposes. Not only does this provide plenty of choice for styles but it means you can pick between more sustainable wooden furniture where available. For example, bamboo grows in just three to five years and can make some fine furniture, making it highly sustainable.
So there you go. if you’re considering buying some brand new furniture and want the greenest option, go for something wooden. Wood products just have a lighter overall footprint and deliver more and with little or no cost to the environment. Have you purchased — or do you plan to furnish your home with — sustainable, quality, long-lasting hardwood furniture? Share your thoughts and comments with us or feel free to give us a call for further enquiries.