Sustainability

“Building Green” isn’t new to the structural building components industry. In fact, we’ve been green since 1952!

Alpine^® is committed to helping truss manufacturers, builders, remodelers and homeowners’ practice environmental responsibility and sustainability by conserving today’s resources for tomorrow’s children. Every effort is made to offer products that balance design and performance with environmental responsibility. There’s no getting around it: The wood you purchase comes from one of the earth’s most renewable resources — trees. Wood is the most efficient material of all the major building products.

Building components minimize the amount of material used and job site waste created. This is a no brainer, but it’s a good point to reinforce with builders and general contractors. And there’s data to prove it! The WTCA & SBCA 1995 and 2015 Framing the American Dream projects reported more than 25 percent material savings when structural components were used to frame a house, versus stick frames. According to the project, a stick framing house also generated 30 times more jobsite waste, compared to framing with structural components. Visit www.sbcindustry.com for more details.

Components are designed to utilize materials most efficiently. Don’t forget that material efficiency is inherent to the process of component design. Design software from Alpine^® allows the designer or technician to value engineer and optimize virtually any component design. This means material is not used when it isn’t needed. Many green building rating systems recognize this benefit of components and award points based on their use. The National Resource Defense Council realized this fact in 1998 when it placed trusses high on its list of great products due to optimum value engineering. View their detailed report at www.nrdc.org.

The use of components tightens a building’s envelope. More precision is built into components with the technology available today and also because they’re built under controlled conditions. When a good foundation is in place, component construction provides for more precision that fosters a tighter building envelope. This means that consumers will conserve energy while enjoying less draft and heat loss.