Accoya, the world-leading modified wood from Accsys has underlined its outstanding environmental credentials by launching an interactive online calculation tool which compares its global transportation impacts with other wood species.
Accoya’s Timber Transport CO2 Calculator analyses the annual carbon footprint of the transportation of Accoya and sets it against other wood species.
Despite Accoya being primarily Radiata Pine from New Zealand transported to the manufacturing plant in Arnhem, Netherlands, the calculator shows that when taking into account the prolonged durability over the full product lifespan, Accoya’s carbon footprint for transportation alone compares favourably to many competing wood species which are sourced more locally.
Laura Ladd, head of marketing at Accsys explains: “Accoya’s general environmental performance and sustainability credentials are well-known – combined with the fact that Radiata Pine is up to 10 times more productive in annual yield than locally grown pine species. But we often get asked about the impact of its CO2 emissions caused by its transportation from New Zealand to the factory in Arnhem.
“The online calculator takes into account a wide range of factors – including the wood’s density, transport distance, vehicle efficiency and life span. Because of Accoya’s superior lifespan due to the acetylation process, plus its naturally low weight and the low emissions of the sea transport used – more than seven times more efficient than transport by truck - the annual transport emissions of New Zealand-sourced acetylated Radiata Pine are competitive when compared to competing continentally-sourced timber species such as Western Red Cedar from the USA.
“It is reassuring to know that despite its long transportation journey, the overall qualities of Accoya – especially its long-term durability and overall sustainability – make it one of the most environmentally-friendly building materials to use across a wide range of contexts.”
Further underlining Accoya’s environmental credentials, earlier this year Accoya was awarded the prestigious Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Platinum Standard certification in the C2C product Innovation Institute’s Material Health category – the highest score available for any building product. Overall Accoya holds Cradle to Cradle Gold rating which is an outstanding achievement for any building product.
Accoya is one of the most advanced and sustainable wood products on the market today. It is created by using a proprietary modification process on sustainably sourced, fast-growing woods. The end product is a new and beautiful wood that matches or exceeds the durability, stability and beauty of the very best tropical hardwoods whilst retaining the very best environmental credentials.
Being high performance, carbon negative, sustainable and low maintenance, Accoya wood is suitable for windows, doors, decking, cladding and glulam structural beams and many other uses.