Issaquah’s zHome notches national honor for using sustainable wood
October 17, 2011
By Warren Kagarise
NEW — 6 a.m. Oct. 17, 2011
The carbon-neutral community zHome earned a national honor for incorporating sustainable lumber to build the 10-unit community.
The award from the Forest Stewardship Council U.S. recognized zHome as the best residential project.
The city spearheaded zHome and relied on homebuilders to construct the townhouses in the Issaquah Highlands. The complex opened for tours last month.
Builders used Forest Stewardship Council-certified lumber to construct almost all of the framing in zHome. Millwork use certified maple from Michigan. The project team chose bamboo for flooring and tigerwood in the stair construction.
Overall, 78 percent of the wood used in zHome met the certification. Builders used 9 percent salvaged wood in the construction.
The council, a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, announced the awards Oct. 5.
The organization named the Hawaii Preparatory Academy Energy Research Lab in Kamuela, Hawaii, the best commercial project.
Organizers selected the projects based on the number of certified products used, the level of market transformation the projects achieved and the creativity in using the products.
“These projects clearly show wood from responsibly managed forests can meet all your design and construction needs,” Corey Brinkema, Forest Stewardship Council U.S., said in a statement. “At a time when the old guards of industry are trying to make us believe that all wood is ‘green,’ these projects demonstrate we can and must do better. So we applaud the award winners for pushing the envelope to incorporate as much FSC-certified wood as possible.”
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Congratulations to zHome. Nice to see they used wood from responsibly managed forests. Forest Stewardship Council is the gold standard.
Let them try that in Mobile, Alabama and they would pay considerably more for FSC certified lumber. As far as “FSC is the gold standard” is concerned, that’s a joke down here where we have well-managed forests.