Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2009 - 26

sustainable
wood composites

green

stage scenery
with

by Paul J. Brunner

he performing arts industry is beginning to take a stand in favor of "green" business practices. For example, Clark
Transfer is reducing transportation carbon emissions for
touring productions by making changes in equipment,
offering special training to its independent owner-operators, and partnering with NativeEnergy to purchase carbon offsets. broadway theatre owners have adopted a program to convert
marquee lights to lEds. Silvercup Studios, the largest film and television
facility on the east coast, has installed a 35,000 sq-ft "green roof." ["How
Green is Green," by Usdin, Robert, live design Online, August 1, 2008].
In November of 2009, ldI (lighting dimensions International) sponsored
"Green day: Greening in the Entertainment Industry," a one-day mini conference dedicated to discussing how to implement green initiatives in the
workplace. The entertainment industry is beginning to pay attention to the
need to be good stewards of the environment.
Now seems like a good time to ask some tough questions of ourselves. Can stage scenery be built with more sustainable materials while
using traditional construction methods and keeping costs low? What is the
overall impact, or lifecycle, of the construction products we use? What
"big ideas" and "little changes" can be put into practice regardless of an
organization's budgetary considerations?
The word sustainable evokes a variety of feelings and has accumulated
a myriad of definitions, but in very basic terms, sustainable means meeting the needs of today while conserving resources for the needs of tomorrow. Wood-based composite panels fit this definition quite well. There are
three main reasons why wood composites are good for our industry. First,
wood composites can be manufactured to very specific criteria and within
the tight tolerances that modern construction practices demand and they
are generally free of the problems of warping, cupping, and bowing commonly found in lumber and plywood today. Second, wood composites are
manufactured in a controlled factory environment which makes far more
efficient use of raw wood resources, using more than 95% of the original
tree versus 63% for solid lumber [Composite Wood Products: Green by

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Nature!, Composite Panel Association, pamphlet]. Third, wood composites utilize fast growing small diameter trees that are largely cultivated on
dedicated tree farms. An important exception to this is lauan plywood,
which will be discussed later.
Stage scenery accounts for a tiny, tiny fraction of global wood consumption. Only fifteen percent of all wood used world-wide is for building houses
and furniture while over half is burned for heating and cooking. Using wood
for construction is one of the most "green" decision available. Since a vast
majority of our scenery budgets are already spent on wood-based products, it makes sense to spend this money wisely. If one is concerned about
atmospheric carbon levels, no other plant transforms more carbon dioxide
into oxygen that trees. Plus, younger, faster growing trees-the kind used in
composite panels-convert almost fifty percent more carbon dioxide into
oxygen than old-growth trees. It is also important to note that when compared to a wood stud, a comparable steel stud requires nine times more
energy to produce. This principal also holds true for recycling because steel
requires far more energy (as heat) to recycle into a new usable product.
Given that wood is an easily renewable, recyclable and biodegradable product that requires very little energy to process and produce usable products,
the sustainability of wood and wood composites is apparent.

Wood Composites Defined
The entertainment industry makes extensive use of wood-based composites, yet we generally don't bother to learn more than the basics about
these materials: sizes, weights, and costs. The term wood composite is
used to represent any wood material that is adhesive-bonded together
[Wood Handbook: wood and an Engineering Material, 10-1, 1999, FPlGTR-113]. Wood-based panels with published structural capabilities include plywood, oriented strand board (OSb), and COM-PlY. Structural
composite lumber, commonly known by the acronym SCl, is also gaining
acceptance in our industry with laminated veneer lumber (lvl), laminated strand lumber (lSl) or oriented strand lumber (OSl), parallel strand

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2009