Why use wood

There are three things to remember about wood:

1. Wood is good to use
2. Wood comes from forest
3. In the forests wood grows all the time

1. Wood is good –
• Wood is a versatile and unique material for engineering and decoration.
• Wood feels good to touch
• Wood is renewable

• Wood is reusable – at the end of their lifetime wooden products can be easily reused or the material can be used as a source of energy
• Wood saves energy – it is light (to produce the material very little fossil energy is used, no heavy foundations,
• Wood ties up CO2 – the CO2 tied in wood during the growing process is moved out of circulation as wood is used in products and buildings

2. Wood comes from forest – wood from sustainably managed forest is a renewable resource. Forests, when properly managed, produce wood for centuries. Forests need to be managed and harvested in order to maintain the supply of wood. Wood is the only renewable building material and therefore the environmental impact is very small when compared to other materials.

3. Forest grows again – The trees in the forest grow again within approximately one or two human generations. In Estonia, as in the Nordic region in general, the forest has been a source of livelihood for centuries. Humans have lived together with forest for long history and have used the resources in sensible way. Nowadays the various environmental certification schemes and legislation have been put in place to further ensure the sustainable regeneration of the resources as well as the protection of diversity in the forest ecosystems