SFI-Certified Firms Support Solar Project

Three companies certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) program will donate wood from well-managed forests to build an advanced solar-powered house for an international competition.

The independent SFI program arranged to have AbitibiBowater, International Forest Products Ltd. and West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. donate lumber, plywood, engineered wood products and decking for North House. The 800-sq-ft prototype home will be entirely solar powered and hyper-insulated, using materials and passive solar construction that absorb heat during the day and release it at night so it will produce more energy than it consumes.

North House will make its first appearance this fall at the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—a biennial international competition where university teams from around the world compete to build 100-percent solar-powered homes. The event will draw more than 200,000 visitors over a 10-day period to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October. North House will then be shipped to Vancouver for display at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, before returning to the Waterloo region where it will be set up in a public demonstration home.

“We are interested in performance and sustainability so wood is a perfect choice for North House—it is a natural, renewable product that delivers the strength and flexibility we need,” said Professor Geoffrey Thun of Team North, an expert team of researchers, academics, students, government and industry professionals.