May Housing Construction Jumps by 17.2 Percent - ABC News

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May Housing Construction Jumps by 17.2 Percent - ABC News

Agrifiber Composit materials are just Better!

"When compared to wood-based particleboard, agrifiber composite materials, comprised of wheat straw or other agricultural fiber, have been found to provide: Greater strength, Competitive prices, Better dimensional stability, Lighter weight- up to 20 percent lighter, Better machining characteristics, Better screw and nail holding capabilities, Better water-resistance, Better lamination attributes, Environmental Impact. Look for those which contain no added urea-formaldehyde."

Reads like an ad from our panel manufacturers, Biocomposite's MicroStrand wheat board literature...

but NOPE!, it's from the "Guide to the 2007 Built Green(r) Checklist Version 2007.2 page 216.

Always good to have an unbiased third party referral!

Koch & Co's GREEN series cabinetry fits the bill using MicroStrand wheat board for over 85 percent of the cabinet construction. Not only does wheat board exhibit all of the benefits as outlined above, it's rapidly renewable! Think about it, a tree takes decades to mature. Wheat is grown and the stalk harvested sometimes twice in just one year!

Got Formaldehyde? We Don't!

KBIS 2008 Interview at Koch & Co. Booth

David was selected as spokesperson for Koch & Co.at KBIS 2008 to recap the highlights of their GREEN Series cabinet line.

Media Highlights from '08.

Tripping down the Internet memory lane:

Is Stainless Steel a Fad?
KBB Article here quoting yours truly at the end.

HGTV Interview for Koch & Co. at KBIS 2008
Fast forward to the 2:40 mark to catch my portion that survived the cutting room floor! Link here.

GreenBuildingTalk Blog says...

Several cabinet companies showcased beautiful bamboo and other sustainable materials. A highlight was Koch & Co.’s Wheat Board cabinetry. Wheat board is a particleboard that is manufactured from wheat stalk fiber instead of tree fiber. Koch's wheatboard cabinets also use low or no VOC finishes, making their product one of the greenest. Koch also offers cabinetry made from German Beech wood, a sustainable wood product from the forests of Germany. When I spoke with Doug Martin, a Pollmeir rep marketing German Beech wood, he impressed upon me that the Beech wood coming from Germany is quite sustainable. Pollmeir’s German Beech wood meets sustainable forestry standards, including the Programme for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification (PEFC) and makes up 57% of Germany’s hardwood forests.
Read GreenBuildingTalk Blog post.

KBIS 2008 Report

The KBIS (Kitchen - Bath Industry Show) held here in Chicago last weekend was a great success. In spite of the soft housing market, it seemed to be a good turnout for the event. I spent most of the weekend in the Koch & Co booth presenting the line to prospective clients and dealers, as well as acting as their spokesperson for an HGTV interview. HGTV was in the booth three different times on Friday for the initial interview and follow up footage on the Koch GREEN Series product.

The Koch GREEN Series features construction of the cabinet box and drawer boxes with a wheat core particleboard without any added urea formaldehyde and is available in an array of wood species and finishes. Bamboo carries some buzz as a fast growing resource but when you factor in the plant’s initial incubation period, the distance it has to be transported, and the question of the chemicals involved in the binders, wheat core particleboard wins hands down on the rapidly renewable and environmentally friendly scales. The wheat core is manufactured from the post harvest leftovers of wheat stalk and stubble that is typically plowed under or burnt off. This is fabulous considering it creates an additional source of revenue for the Midwest farmer for a waste by-product as well as preventing additional pollutants from the burn offs.