Why Waste Wood

More than 50 % of forests have already been replaced by agriculture and cities. As a natural air filter, agriculture binds large volumes of CO2 while simultaneously producing oxygen.

To produce 1 kg of biomass, agricultural crops use up 1.8 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere, and give back 1.1 kg of O2, pure oxygen, which they have no use for. A small home built of biomass can bind 9000 kg of CO2, and provide a volume of oxygen that can sustain its owner for about 15 years.

However, burning or composting biomass reverses this process. It requires oxygen and produces atmospheric CO2. A bad deal for us.

By using ECOBoards, the CO2 is stored into biobased materials over multiple decades and can later be reused as raw material for new ECOBoards without the need of energy.  By using regenerative materials instead of oil-based products, you are making a vital contribution to climate and environmental protection.

Currently more than 1 Billion m3 of board material is being processed every year in the world. Every m3 of trees harvested to fulfill this need for board material results in 2 tons of CO² absorption loss until the trees used, grow back to their original size and only for FSC wood. This is apart from CO² that is released during the production and harvesting processes. 50% of the world forests have already been cut to achieve this. ECOboards offers an alternative way ahead by using agricultural waste.

Agriculture absorbs even more CO2 than most forests or trees. Straw is actually like a little tree that is already cut and that will grow back in a year or 6 months depending on the country. By using this straw to produce bio based materials like ECOBoards 1.78 kg of of Carbon will be stored for every kg produced. At end of life the old ECOBoards are reused as raw material for new ECOBoards and thus the Carbon remains saved making it fully cradle2cradle .

Bio based Building is therefor the ideal GEO – ENGINEERING! The impact to the CO2 balance is HUGE.

LCA ECOBoard Prepared by: Gary Newman – Plant Fibre Technology (21st February 2008)

The production and use of ECOBoards has a very positive environmental impact. Strawboard is CARBON NEGATIVE.

An ECOBoard factory with a capacity of 100,000 tons is responsible for:

• The storage of > 100,000 TONS CO2 per year
• Has an impact of > 200,000 TONS CO2 less per year
• Saves 400,000 m3 per year TREES being cut

ECOBoards are unique in the sense that it uses agricultural fibre residue (waste) for its production of boards/panels. Since no trees are cut, 2 tons of CO2 absorption per m3 of wood is saved for the environment.

Unlike most MDF and particleboards currently on the market, the ECOBoard agrifibre panels use a special No Added Formaldehyde (NAF) resin. This resin is designed so that only 3% is needed for bonding, compared to up to 25% in particleboards. A NAF resin helps creating a healthier living environment.

Trends
Japan with the F**** norm and California with the CARB norm imposed formaldehyde free norms/directions for living environments due to the importance of lowering CO2 emissions and reducing toxicity. Other countries are following and are supported by local/national governments.

ECOBoard conforms to the EU’s E0 standard and F**** and CARB standards.