* Story Highlights
* Norwegian company has developed eco-friendly way to simulate hardwood
* Kebony uses sustainable wood including maple, pine and beech
* Wood is treated to give it the same look, performance as tropical
hardwood
* Product widely used in Norway, now the company is expanding
internationally
>From Norway, an eco-alternative to teak
_http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/07/05/kebony.wood.deforestation/#cnnST
CText_
(http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/07/05/kebony.wood.deforestation/#cnnSTCText)
By Hilary Whiteman CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The sleek, dark wood has all the characteristics
of endangered mahogany from Peru's Amazon rainforest.
In reality, it was manufactured in Norway, in a five-day process that
instills all the qualities of rare, tropical hardwood into sustainable
softwood.
The company that makes it, Kebony, says it comes with none of the
environmental cost.
**This is a mega turn, people have to act,** Kebony CEO Christian Jebsen
told CNN. **We have a green solution for the tropical wood market and we are
there to take that market or at least be part of it.** VideoChristian
Jebsen talks to CNN »
The global market for wood products from tropical forests is estimated to
be worth some $20 billion each year, according to the International
Tropical Timber Organization.
Most of the wood on the world market now comes from Southeast Asia and
Africa, according to the Rainforest Foundation Norway. Tighter controls on
logging in Brazil have reduced the amount of hardwood being shipped out of the
Amazon, once a popular source for the finest quality mahogany, teak and
cedar.
**Each tree is worth maybe $25,000-$40,000 on the international market.
And there are lots of trees being taken out [worldwide] -- so this is a large
business, a huge business,** said Lars Løvold, director of the Rainforest
Foundation Norway.
The United Nations estimates some 13 million hectares of forest are lost
worldwide each year, equivalent to an area the size of Greece or Nicaragua.
Their absence is said to contribute more carbon emissions each year than
the global transport sector.
Demand for luxury hardwood is by no means the main cause of deforestation.
Clearing land for agriculture and the collection of wood for fuel are the
main drivers, but Løvold said the lucrative market for hardwood provides a
compelling incentive for loggers to move into previously untouched areas.
**Almost all deforestation starts with the logging,** Løvold told CNN.
**The logging doesn't necessarily end up in the total clearance of an area, it
just opens up the area, it takes out all the valuable trees and makes it
much easier.**
Kebony*s move into the global wood market follows more than a decade of
research started in the late 1990s by Canadian scientist Marc Schneider of
the University of New Brunswick.
Rigorous testing took place before the first trial production in 2004.
Strong demand for the product convinced the company to build a new plant with
ten times the production capacity, which opened in January.
**What we are doing with our technology is to permanently transform the
wood so it doesn*t change. Our process is 100 percent environmentally
friendly,** Jebsen told CNN.
The process involves injecting softwood with a patented formula which
includes Furfuryl alcohol, a waste by-product of sugar cane production.
The wood is then subjected to pressure, heated and dried before being
cured at high temperatures to create a product that the company says is
stronger, more stable than untreated softwood and weather-proof.
Kebony*s environmental credentials have been endorsed with the receipt of
the Nordic region's eco-label, the Swan. It's also received Norway*s n
ational environmental prize, the **Glass Bear.**
On a cost basis, the company says it can compete with the price of
authentic teak on the European market.
**You can buy a cubic meter of teak in Europe for anything between 3,000
euros ($4,000) up to 10,000 euros ($14,000), depending on the quality. I
would say we are competitive with that,** Jebsen said.
Kebony is **slightly more expensive** when compared to pressure-treated
wood, but it doesn*t contain any of the potentially harmful metals or
pesticides that are commonly used to improve the wood's durability.
Jebsen sees some of the company's best opportunities in the boat-building
industry, where rare teak from Myanmar is being used at the luxury end of
the market.
**We believe multiple boat manufacturers will start to use Kebony very
soon -- some have already started,** he said.
The company is also planning a move into the U.S. decking market where
it*s scouting for clients and recruiting distributors.
**The U.S. decking market, which is using toxic impregnated, metal-based
wood modification methods, together with t
