Never before in our world’s history has the desire for green products been so high, especially when it comes to building products.

The state of California has often led the way for setting environmental standards worldwide. As the world’s fifth largest economy, California established itself as a world leader when it formed the Climate Action Team and the Climate Action Initiative in 2005 to research and implement policies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the state.

Flooring professionals might not think that activity in Washington affects them or their businesses directly, but important legislation was implemented this past summer that affects many NFT readers.  The Lacey Act, which originally was enacted more than 100 years ago to prevent the illegal trafficking of wildlife throughout the world, has been expanded to include wood and wood products. Specifically, Congress last year passed a ban on the import, sale or trade of wood and other forest products that are harvested illegally outside the United States.

In recent years, there has been ample discussion in the flooring industry about the heightened demand for manufacturer finished wood flooring products. There is no doubt that these products remain popular with consumers, particularly those who are remodeling their home and want to minimize mess and disruption.

For many of us, the New Year traditionally is a time for setting goals for the coming year. The wood flooring industry is no exception, but to set realistic goals, we also need to have a clear understanding of our accomplishments for the past year as well. In fact, looking back even further can give us insight into trends that can have a huge impact on our industry.

Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important in the flooring business--and that is very good news for those of us involved in the sale and manufacture of hardwood floors.

The United States wood flooring market experienced another strong year in 2004.

During the past few years, a significant buzz about utilizing sustainable natural resources has been generated within the building and construction industry. Everywhere you turn these days, it seems we are inundated with talk of green building, environmental awareness and sustainable materials.

During the past decade, wood flooring has been one of the strongest-growing sectors of the U.S. floor covering market. Homeowners' growing preference for high-end hard-surface flooring has driven demand. Growth has been strongest in the residential-remodeling and new-construction markets. Sales gains benefited from low mortgage-interest rates, record levels of existing-home sales, and the growing size and value of the average newly constructed single-family home.

Welcome to NWFA Hardwood Dossier, a new column that will appear on a recurring basis in National Floor Trends. I thought I'd start things off with some answers to frequently asked wood floor-related questions.