Nothing is greener for construction than building with wood,
when the wood is from a sustainable forest!

   THE FACT IS. The guy living under a bridge, recycling food from a dumpster and picking up cans for cheap wine has the smallest carbon footprint of us all. The guy building a 6,000+ Sq. Ft. house with two plus cars for two people is at the other end of the scale. The only thing worse is building a 6,000+ Sq. Ft. house for a second home. It is not our poor who are contributing to the COČ problem. Of course human nature being what it is, they probably would if they could.

   When a tree grows, it absorbs COČ. When a tree dies or burns, ALL of the COČ it has absorbed is released back into the atmosphere; in other words the tree has contributed nothing to helping with the environment.
    If the tree is cut, and is replaced with a new one the COČ is locked into the lumber for the life of the house and the new tree starts absorbing more COČ. Even burning the tree for space heating; if it is burned cleanly and replanted has a very positive effect on the environment.

TO BENEFIT FROM THE TREES ABILITY TO CAPTURE COČ, THE TREE MUST BE HARVESTED, REPLANTED WITH ANOTHER TREE AND THE WOOD USED FOR CONSTRUCTION OR HEATING TO OFFSET THE USE OF  BURIED FOSSIL FUELS.

Many of our forests today are being stressed because of climate change. If you are replanting your wood lot be sure to choose trees that will thrive in a drier climate. If a tree is stressed it can not absorb as much COČ

THE GREENEST BUILDING MATERIALS IN ORDER START WITH; SMALLER HOMES, WOOD (if replanted),  DIRT, STRAW, RECYCLED PRODUCTS, FIBERGLASS, GLASS, 

HEATING ENERGY IN ORDER ARE; BUILDING SMALLER, INCREASED INSULATION, RECYCLED INSULATION PRODUCTS, BIOMASS PRODUCTS, WOOD (if replanted), WIND, LOCAL HYDRO, SOLAR,

Guide to Green Mortgages / Energy Efficient Mortgages

Build a smaller house. A house half as big built with completely conventional building materials and systems is almost certainly more ecological than a "green" mansion. In the US in the fifties the average house was nearly half as big as now. Focus all that money and energy on making a good, space efficient design, and you'll have lots left over to do state of the art green materials and systems.