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Going green is not just using solar power or wind power, but anything that reduces our carbon footprint. Recycling is also an aspect of green living, but some recycling requires using a lot of the same energy that we are trying to reduce by recycling. Reclaiming is not the same as recycling. It is finding a new use from an old product.

Consider reclaiming lumber. A structure is built and used for 50-100+ years. At this point it is more profitable to tear down than to modernize it. If this structure is reclaimed, it will be torn down in the reverse order of the way it was built. Every part of it will be reused if possible. If the same structure is demolished, most of it will end up in a landfill or sometimes in a burn pile. This will end the use of all of the components used to build the structure. Reclaiming gives a lot of the original components of the structure new uses.

Here is an example of the energy used to reclaim a structure. A man get up in the morning, eats breakfast with a cup of coffee and goes to work with a hammer, pry bar, and a few other hand tools. Food gives the man energy to work. Food is a renewable resource. At the end of the day, he will have a large pile of lumber, fixtures and other things he has removed from the structure. Most of the energy he has used is renewable and most of what he has removed can be reused for other purposes. It may take several days to reclaim a structure, but a large percentage of that structure is ready for reuse.

If that same structure is demolished, most of the components of that structure will require more energy if it is to be reused, so instead of reuse it goes to a landfill, where it will take years to decompose. It may only take a few hours to remove by demolishing it, but to recycle it requires more energy to sort its individual components, and at this point, even more energy to make those components into something that can be used again. Either way,not everything can be reclaimed and reused.

The advantages of using reclaimed lumber for construction work is old growth wood is more stable, and reclaimed lumber doesn’t require cutting down more trees. Reclaimed lumber doesn’t require any energy to dry. Trees cut down for new lumber requires an enormous amount of energy to dry in a kiln, or a long time to dry naturally before it can be used. Most kilns use fossil fuels or electricity produced from fossil fuels to operate. This gives the lumber mill a faster return on their money, but does nothing to reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, lumber mills have to replant new trees where they cut, or they will run out of forest. They plant new trees that have been designed to grow faster, but the new lumber is not as structurally stable as the trees from old growth forests.

For more information on the advantages of using reclaimed lumber for construction, follow this link.

http://www.helium.com/knowledge/196210-the-advantages-of-using-reclaimed-timber-for-construction-work