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Show Jfftg fOREST AiiWi How Forests Soften The Energy Crisis This article has been prepared pre-pared by Georgia-Pacific, the growth company interested inter-ested in protecting our natural resources. i , one ton of steel requires 2,700 kilowatt-hours, and a ton of aluminum requires 17,000 kilowatt-hours. Near-Perfect Building Material Because wood is so flexible flexi-ble yet strong, it is an excellent construction material mate-rial in areas of high winds and earthquakes. the summer it required 16 percent less energy for air conditioning. Waste as Fuel Companies that produce wood and wood products derived from it can use many wood residues as fuel. This reduces the drain on natural gas, coal and oil as well as on electrical energy. By itself, wood can't eliminate elim-inate shortages in fossil fuel and electrical energy. It can't yet pull the teeth of the energy crisis. But it certainly can help soften the bite. PULP, PAPER AND OTHER USEFUL PRODUCTS PROD-UCTS are made from wood "leftover s." Wood is really a remarkable remark-able material. It's relatively easy to obtain. It doesn't have to be gouged out of the earth or refined or mixed with other materials. Another remarkable thing about wood is that it's renewable. re-newable. Soon after it is taken from the forest, new trees begin to cover the harvested area. In fact, it is the only renewable building material. Conversion of wood from raw material to finished building products requires very little energy: it takes about 430 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce a ton of lumber; production of THE ONLY RENEWABLE BUILDING MATERIAL is wood. New trees soon begin to cover a harvested area. What's more, wood insulates in-sulates better than other common building material: six times better than brick, 15 times better than concrete con-crete and 1,770 times better than aluminum. In a recent test comparing wood frame and masonry homes of the same size, the wood-frame home used 23 percent less heat energy in the winter. In WOOD'S FLEXIBILITY AND STRENGTH make it an excellent construction material. |