environmental

Natural Resources Defense Council stated in their publication "Efficient Wood Use in Residential Construction" subtitled, "A Practical Guide to Saving Wood, Money, and Forests", copyrighted in 1998, Chapter 2 (Stressed-Skin Insulating-Core Panels), page 29 "Clearly, there are tradeoffs for each type of stressed-skin panel. None of these products is without environmental impact. Overall, however, after considering all the pros and cons, stressed-skin panels are a resource-efficient building technology with significant energy-efficiency and forest-conservation benefits, and hold distinct advantages over stick framing".

SIPs are a prime example of how forest products have evolved from a simple natural material into a sophisticated, high-technology resource. The oriented strand board (OSB) in SIPs is produced using small trees that can be sustainably harvested. And SIPs also partner beautifully with engineered wood structural members like the glue-laminated timbers used in the mall house design - strong members, made from second and third growth trees, which out perform timbers sawn directly from old-growth trees. This excerpt is written in an article about a Sustainable Home project from the sips.org website. Check out this website for a much broader source of links about the environmental and sustainable properties of SIPs.

As stated by the NRDC, SIPs are not without an environmental impact, which holds true with ICFs also. As more studies are done the benefits of these building systems far outweigh the negative impacts.

The huge reduction with heating and cooling demands ties directly to a far lesser need for foreign fuels. As stated in the SIPA article, the OSB in SIPs is not made from old growth forests. SIP and ICF Building Systems are state of the art, Electronic Age Framing Systems.