Green news from both coasts
March 19th, 2009 in Blogs
Richard Defendorf, contributor
3 users recommend
Two recent announcements highlighted ways in which green enterprise is gaining a foothold in the economy.
Foam and Steel Technology Associates, a Fairfax, Virginia-based manufacturer of pre-engineered steel and foam construction panels, will invest $2.5 million to open its first manufacturing facility in Littleton, North Carolina, according to the North Carolina governor's office. The company, which promotes green building practices for the efficient use of energy, water, and materials in residential home building, said it plans to create 105 new jobs at an average annual salary of $28,707 plus benefits.
And in Portland, Oregon, the owner of a metal works plant that builds commercial car carriers has, because of economic pressures, launched a startup, Miranda Homes, that builds Energy Star-rated homes.
The focus of a feature story in The Oregonian last month, Rob Boydstun, president of Boydstun Metal Works, put his engineers to work on developing construction techniques for energy efficient wall panels that feature metal studs, a tight structural envelope encased in rigid foam insulation, and slathered wall cavities and crawl spaces between floors containing the home's heating, ventilating, and cooling systems that, the story notes, allow for shorter duct runs and smaller, higher efficiency furnaces.
One aspect of Boydstun's new enterprise that especially intrigued Oregonian readers -- and was address further in a story published later -- is the source of the metal studs: crushed cars whose metal remains are smelted by Nucor Steel, which rolls the liquid metal into giant slabs that are then converted into different products, including the galvanized steel coils used by Miranda Homes.
Boydstun's metal works uses 8-inch-wide coils to fabricate the metal studs. A 2,500-square-foot Miranda house uses about six cars' worth of recycled metal. Key to keeping Boydstun's materials costs down, in fact, is that the price of recycled metal is lower than that of steel made from freshly mined ore.
"We probably couldn't afford it if it was made out of raw steel," he told the paper.
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