Brian Luoma Picked To Lead Alabama’s Westervelt Company

by | Mar 22, 2017 | News

Brian Luoma Picked To Lead Alabama’s Westervelt Company

 

The Westervelt Company named Brian Luoma as President and CEO, succeeding Mike Case, who announced his retirement after more than 32 years with the company. Luoma will oversee Westervelt Lumber, Westervelt Renewable Energy, Westervelt Forest Resources, Westervelt Communities, Westervelt Ecological Services and Westervelt New Zealand.

Luoma most recently served as executive vice president and general manager, Siding, with Louisiana-Pacific Corp.

Jon Warner, Chairman of the Board at The Westervelt Co., based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, comments, “Brian’s proven leadership and vision will be essential in leading our company.”

“I am thrilled to join the Westervelt team,” Luoma says. “The company’s commitment to excellence and focus on sustainability are the driving forces behind 133 years of success.”

Since 1987, Luoma held roles of increasing responsibility with LP. Luoma graduated in Forestry from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. He worked for LP while attending college, first as an assistant log scaler at the LP stud mill in Fort Bragg, California and then in the woods as a forestry technician. After graduating he worked for Simpson Timber in Korbel for a year before rejoining LP as timberlands manager in northern California. He then became wood procurement manager for LP’s Western Region. He later led LP’s Northern operations OSB group in Hayward, Wisconsin before moving to LP headquarters as head of forestry, wood procurement and logistics.

He advanced to LP’s vice president of Engineered Wood Products before becoming executive vice president and GM over LP Siding, based at headquarters in Nashville, Tennnessee.

Westervelt operates a high production, modernized southern yellow pine sawmill at Moundville, Alabama, a large industrial wood pellet plant in Aliceville, Alabama, and owns/manages 500,000 acres of timberland.

For more information on The Westervelt Company visit westervelt.com.

 

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Study: Using Wood For Building And Energy Helps Environment

by | Oct 24, 2016 | News

Wood has a largely favorable environmental effect. A study of the National Research Programme “Resource Wood” recommends using wood more widely as a source of energy and as a building material.

The study examined the overall environmental impact of wood in Switzerland, analyzing the value chain from cutting trees to recycling wood or burning it, including the manufacture of semi-finished products such as paper, boards and pellets for heating purposes. Wood manufacturing is a high profile industry in Switzerland, home to suppliers familiar in the U.S. such as IGP power coating, Michael Weinig machinery, Jowat adhesives, Swiss Chrono laminate panel, and Lamello.

The study indicates that the sustainable use of wood can contribute to meeting our needs in terms of energy and raw materials with a smaller footprint than other resources.

The study estimates that the use of wood in Switzerland leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions of between 2.0 and 3.1 million tons per year – in comparison, Switzerland emitted a total of 52.6 million tons in 2013. Replacing gas or oil with wood accounts for two thirds of the estimated reduction. The last third is linked to construction and furniture production where wood replaces materials with a high carbon footprint such as cement, steel, aluminum and plastics.

Conducted in the context of the National Research Programme “Resource Wood” (NRP 66), the study based its analysis on the one hand on comprehensive statistics of material flows (origin, use and disposal of wood) that were compiled by the federal offices in particular. On the other hand, it referred to several databases evaluating the life cycle of products. “We considered different environmental impacts, in particular in relation to climate change, energy consumption, air pollution and loss of biodiversity”, explains Florian Suter, first author of the study and doctoral student at the Chair of Ecological Systems Design at ETH Zurich.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/using-wood-more-widely-building-and-energy-helps-environment-swiss-researchers?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news

Wood Pellet Exports No Threat To Panel Makers

by | Dec 9, 2015 | News

Massive U.S. industrial wood pellet exports to meet green energy goals in Europe is not a threat to the sustainability of U.S. Southern forests, says a new report from the pellet manufacturers.

Drawing from U.S. government and available market data, the report was commissioned by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) and the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association (USIPA) – three organizations representing the producers of wood pellets and their suppliers.

The report reveals that industrial pellet exports represent a very small part of forest harvests in the U.S. South, the groups say. Panel manufacturers have expressed concern that drawing too much wood pulp for fuel will raise prices on raw material for OSB and plywood.

• Total removal of wood in the U.S. South for all markets is 3.3% of the total forest inventory.
• Pellet exports represent 0.08% of the total inventory.
• In 2014, pine removals for industrial pellet production totaled 3.7 million tons or 0.3% of the pine pulpwood inventory and 0.09% of the total pine inventory.
• In 2014, hardwood removals for industrial pellet production totaled approximately 2.4 million tons or 0.2% of the hardwood pulpwood and 0.06% of the total hardwood inventory.
• In 2014, pellet exports from the U.S. South to Europe, which represent the vast majority of U.S. pellet exports, were 3.6 million metric tons, or 40% of Europe’s 9 million metric ton industrial pellet consumption.
• Future industrial demand for U.S. pellets overseas represents 0.3% of total forest inventory in the U.S. South.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/pricing-supply/infographic-using-wood-pellets-fuel-no-threat-forests-or-panel-makers?ss=wood,wood,wood_of_the_month,wood,pricing_supply,wood,components_sourcing,wood,panel_supply,wood,wood_veneer,wood,lumber_quotes_charts