Environmental Information
All the wood in a Scandinavian Log Cabin or home is sourced from pine forests in Sweden, Norway & Finland. These forests are the main source of income for the people of the region. They manage the forests, harvest the trees and replant them using documented techniques that have been used for over 50 years. The wood supplied to the Scandinavian Log Cabins factory is FSC certified to prove their wood is from a sustainable source. The local Forestry Board has a sustainability policy statement which is available for you to view along with information about the Swedish Forestry Act.
Logs used in our products are sourced from trees which are at least seventy years old when they are harvested. The median age of the trees is around ninety years old. Whenever a tree is harvested it must by law be replaced with three saplings.
Because the trees used in our products are grown so far North they grow very slowly which means they are harder and denser than trees grown further South and the wood is of the very best quality.
The Carbon Cycle
As is well known our environment is being damaged by human activity. One of the major factors damaging the planet is the release of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is a "Greenhouse gas" which helps to form a sort of blanket around the Earth preventing solar heat from being radiated out into space. By studying sediment cores from the sea beds and ice cores from the vast ice sheets of Greenland and the Antarctic scientists have been able to demonstrate that at periods in the Earth's history when Carbon Dioxide levels have been elevated then there has been a corresponding increase in global temperature. Thanks to mankind burning fossil fuels present-day Carbon Dioxide levels are high, around 30% higher than they were 200 years ago, and global warming is an imminent danger.
Trees are our friends in combating global warming. They absorb Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere through the action of Photosynthesis and store the Carbon in their wood. The more trees we grow the lower atmospheric Carbon Dioxide will become. By chopping down trees, making log cabins out of them, and growing new trees, we are keeping Carbon Dioxide out of the carbon cycle.
However, at some point in time, a log cabin is going to wear out and will be dismantled. If the logs are burned the Carbon stored is released back into the atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide. We can delay the event by recycling the logs as chipboard, but at some point, the wood will burn or rot and the carbon cycle will continue. So growing trees is not a solution to global warming, but it is at least carbon neutral. Global warming is not made worse by growing trees, and very little energy is used in growing and harvesting the crop. The same could not be said of other forms of house building.
Conventional houses are built on concrete foundations with brick walls joined together by cement. The cement industry is one of the biggest users of energy in the world, and any reduction in its consumption will have a direct effect on carbon dioxide emissions. By eliminating brickwork you are already taking a major step in the conservation of energy, not to mention mining damage from chalk pits & clay pits.
The weight of a log home is also substantially lower and foundations do not need to be as substantial leading to savings in concrete. It is even possible to eliminate concrete foundations entirely by using screw pile foundations.
The same with roofing material where mineral felt made using waste shale is used instead of clay tiles that need to be dug up, shaped and baked in an oven.
General Green Credentials
Some other areas Scandinavian Log Cabins are keen to promote are:
Lean manufacturing techniques are exploited in the factory to minimise waste through optimal cutting patterns in raw materials. Offcuts are re-used where possible. The factory where our cabins are made uses waste sawdust from the manufacturing process to provide heating.
In our business methods, we promote reuse before recycling and minimising paperwork through electronic data transfer. We do not believe in expensive offices, showrooms or salesmen in company cars. We want you to do the selling for us with a quality product at the keenest price.
