Many floor covering products contribute points toward a LEED green building certification. Here are a few of the points you can look up under the standard for more information:

• MR 4.1 – post-consumer plus ½ pre-consumer for 10% or 20% of cost of project materials receives 1 or 2 points
• MR 5.1 or 5.2 – harvested and manufactured within 500 miles and at least 10% or 20% of cost of materials receives 1 or 2 points
• MR 7. – FSC certified wood products by percentage certified; i.e., ‘mixed’ or ‘pure’, comprise 50% of wood building materials receives 1 point
• IEQ 4.1 – VOCs for wood floor adhesives limited to 100g/L.

Wood floors are made by people who want to ensure forest continuation. As a member of the national task force that compared Forest Stewardship Certification versus the Sustainable Forest

Initiative in 2001, I expect positive outcomes for the long term from both FSC and the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification. PEFC is the world’s largest forest certification system and the one that SFI is a member of. In addition there are several other wood certifications. Be sure to check out the new NWFA Manufacturer Service Center on the web.

Some of the best news for forests came in the form of a National Academy of Sciences’ satellite data study over several years that identified where the hot spots of tropical deforestation are occurring. Only 10% of the world’s forests are certified and most of those are in the Boreal regions, not the Tropics where the problems are occurring. This PNAS study allows developed nations to come together around trusted fact based data and fund programs to reduce and avoid Tropical deforestation. Expect to hear more about improving deforestation and more about certification in the future.