Anyone treading the boardwalk at New York’s Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park could be excused for believing they were walking on tropical wood. But the material used for the new development in the riverside neighborhood in Queens is, in fact, Norwegian pine.

The wood has been developed by the Oslo-based company Kebony, using a patented method that gives it the durability, look and feel of tropical hardwood.

Luxury yacht manufacturers, architects and developers have traditionally embraced tropical hardwoods such as teak and mahogany for their hard-wearing and aesthetic qualities. But much of the world’s tropical wood production is unsustainable.

Deforestation is a major environmental problem, and the global appetite for tropical timber is an important contributing factor. Restrictions on the import and use of many tropical woods combined with an increasing need to promote green credentials has led architects and developers to look for equally good, sustainable alternatives.

Providing an eco-friendly option has been the driving force behind Kebony from the company’s creation in 1997. The technology of modifying wood in an environmentally sound way was pioneered by Canadian forestry professor Marc Schneider from the University of New Brunswick. After Schneider visited Oslo’s agricultural university, Norwegian colleagues became interested in his invention and founded Kebony to develop and commercialize the technology. Pilot production began in 2003.

“The environmental part has been the most important since day one,” explained Christian Jebsen, Kebony’s CEO since 2008, and a former investment banker. “Traditional impregnation of wood uses lots of different chemicals. We wanted to use technology based on biowaste.”

Kebony uses sustainably grown Norwegian pine which is pressure-treated with a liquid derivative from sugar or corn production (these natural ingredients also mean it can be disposed of like normal wood at the end of its lifespan). The wood is then cured and dried to permanently expand the thickness of its cells, giving it greater stability, hardness and a longer life expectancy. Its durability is part of the reason Kebony was chosen for Hunter’s Point, since it can withstand extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy.

“It acts exactly like tropical wood,” said Jebsen. “When it is new, it’s dark brown. When exposed to sunlight it gets a silver gray patina—like all tropical wood. You can oil it or do whatever to keep the color as well, but I think one of the best arguments for Kebony is that it is maintenance-free.”

The finished product is so convincing that it has had some unintended consequences. When Kebony was used as part of the wall cladding at a new Oslo underground station, commuters who believed it was illegal tropical wood complained to the transport authorities.

From the beginning, Kebony has appealed to architects in Norway and around the world. Even the smallest of projects have gained international attention, like a boathouse in Aure on Norway’s wild west coast, or the Øvre Forsland hydroelectric station. Both buildings are beautifully crafted and designed, and the weathered look of the Kebony wood helps them blend into their natural surroundings.

“Today we’re working with leading hotel chains, leading property developers and even with companies like Starbucks,” said Jebsen. Major projects like the Hunter’s Point boardwalk are making Kebony known to an even wider audience.

But high-quality wood is not an easy market to crack. Jebsen calls it a hugely conservative industry that has never sought to innovate. Though he feels the product should be an easy sell (Kebony is also competitively priced, compared to tropical woods), he found it impossible to interest any distributors before establishing a portfolio of high-profile end users who could vouch for the sustainable wood alternative.

Despite these challenges, Kebony has seen an average yearly growth of 36 percent since the first factory for full-scale production opened in the Norwegian city of Skien in 2009. The company hopes to maintain that growth rate for the next five years at least, expanding the original factory while planning a second plant which should come on stream by early 2017.

Kebony has five major investors from different European countries and is currently trading in 22 different countries with a focus on Scandinavia, the UK, France and Germany. The company sees the United States as a major future market.

Yet Jebsen is under no illusions that Kebony will be able to replace all tropical wood.

“The wood market in general is enormously big. We are basically in a very small part of the market, the high end. Even now, with revenue of 20 to 25 million euros (US$22 to 27 million), we’re talking about a market share next to nothing,” he said.

“I think the most important thing we’re doing is that we can actually deliver an alternative to tropical wood.”

For more information Website: http://kebony.com/

Video: http://www.sparknews.com/en/video/kebony-when-norwegian-pine-saves-tropical-hardwoods

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