Strategic Issues in Building Materials Production I: Engineered Wood Products Having surveyed the general form and content of green production, its time to turn our attention more specifically to building materials. While every category of building materials presents major challenges in implementing ecological production, I want to focus on a few key areas of strategic concern for green building. They include engineered wood products; the role of concrete and cement; the use of plastics, particularly PVC; and finally, the general issue of indoor air quality. (While the latter seems to be a question of building use, problems of indoor air quality must be ultimately resolved in the realm of production.) The Carbohydrate Economy is one example of the positive application of advanced science and technology to ecological production. One might expect that another conceivable example might be that of advanced or engineered materials. Unfortunately, however, the thrust of mainstream materials science has been largely unconcerned with questions of human health or environmental sustainability. New advanced materials that exhibit superior strength, hardness, or other thermal, electrical, optical or chemical properties have been developed which have had a major impact on industries like communications, weapons, space travel and medical devices. They include metal alloys, structural ceramics, advanced polymers, and many kind of composites. But it is their characteristics and specialization that makes them advanced, not their sources, since they are largely made from conventional raw materials. Some have possible positive environmental applicationsfor example, the use of some alloys, super-polymers or various smart materials in facilitating energy-efficiency. But in