Page 38 - Green Builder July-August 2020 Issue

Aspirational Leaders
HONORABLE MENTIONS

fe companies t at did not ma e our co- eaders nal cut t is year still

deser e a callout for t eir sustaina ility e orts

contractors and homeowners can responsibly
collaborate in creating a far better quality home
while making a meaningful, positive difference for
our planet. We welcome all others who share our
commitment.”

reenfi er

By making cellulose insulation from
post-consumer waste, this company
raises the sustainability bar.
ELLULOSE INSULATION–made from
plant fiber—is one of the oldest forms
of insulation. It comes in many forms--
C newspapers, cardboard, cotton, straw,
sawdust, hemp and corncob, to name a few. It’s an
environmental friend, capturing carbon instead of
releasing it into the atmosphere.
Out of the ‘sticks’. An E-Tech home offers an environmentally friendlier, lower-cost alternative to the
traditional “stick built” home—and it looks pretty good, too. COURTESY OF MELISSA PETER

manufacturers of nearly all consumer products:
Environmental outsourcing individual sub-components to
Technology Group specialized plants which use automated equipment
to stamp out engineered elements designed to
(E-Tech) be easily assembled. For almost every consumer
product, specifically designed components are
This company’s new construction shipped to a warehouse location where they are
technique promises an end to the assembled and a completed product is created,
packaged and sent to a consumer.
wasteful practice of ‘stick building’. E-Tech is marketing a home built in this fashion,
OMEBUILDERS HAVE BEEN CRITICIZED with the one exception being its assembly taking
for years for the method used to place at the home site instead of at a factory. The
obtain the wood needed for housing process, performed by a trained workforce of a few
H construction and the process in which builders instead of a dozen or more, ends up being
the homes are erected. The process, known as faster—construction takes days instead of weeks
“stick building,” is the traditional wood-framed under stick building—and far less expensive. The
home constructed on a building site stick by stick. home’s smaller footprint makes it far more energy
Opponents say most of the wood used comes from efficient, and the overall technique results in less
mature trees that are unceremoniously cut down construction-generated waste. More importantly,
en masse, with most of the end product disposed according to E-Tech founder Barry Rosengrant,
of at landfills or burned, causing pollution problems this method has far less negative impact on the
and destroying wildlife habitats. environment.
Enter the Environmental Technology Group “The ultimate test of sustainability is that
(E-Tech), a coalition of concerned individuals all components are easily re-purposed to new Pushing the envelope. Unlike many insulation
manufacturers, Greenfiber uses mostly
who say the problem can be solved if the structures without further waste of recycling recycled paper in its product as a show of
housing industry adopts the process used by energy,” he says. “Thus, design professionals,
respect for natural ecosystems. COURTESY OF GREENFIBER
36 GREEN BUILDER July/August 2020 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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