In British Columbia, many communities are dependent on the forest industry and are consequently concerned about uses for the millions of hectares of pine forests killed by the mountain pine beetle. The wood fiber from those dead trees is normally useless for traditional manufacturing of dimensional lumber due to its fragility and poor quality, but wood concrete provides an alternative use. This was a market research study on mountain pine beetle wood concrete product (MPBWCP), an innovative wood product that is a blend of pine beetle–killed wood and concrete. Three building product applications were investigated, including countertops, floor tiles, and garden blocks. We assessed the relative importance that consumers place on the product attributes of wood chip size, color, price, location of production, and green certification. Qualified consumer participants from cities on the West Coast of Canada and the United States were invited to evaluate physical samples of MPBWCP on site. The results of the conjoint analysis revealed that the consumers placed high importance on attributes pertaining to two forms of sustainability, economic and environmental. Indeed, economic sustainability of local communities was the most important attribute. Moreover, sustainability and aesthetic attributes were more important compared with the relative price attribute. Cluster analyses revealed that consumers could be divided into five different segments for all product types. Moreover, one consumer segment highly valued both attributes of sustainability (economic and environmental) more than any other segment. As for demographic insights, the most price-sensitive consumer segment had significantly higher education levels. Overall, consumers showed a desire for sustainable building products in their acceptance of MPBWCP. This is consistent with the importance they placed on both sustainability attributes versus the traditional product attributes of aesthetics and price. By examining a broader concept of sustainability that incorporates economic and environmental dimensions, this study extends the literature on wood products and environmental friendliness.

Although mega-watt class onshore and offshore wind power systems are used to generate power due to their cost-effectiveness, small wind power systems are important for household usages. Researchers have focused on aerodynamic characteristics as a conceptual design from their previous studies on Archimedes spiral wind turbines. Here, we verified the design of a small wind turbine AWM-750D (100 W capacity) via both numerical simulation and experimentation. We used commercial code ANSYS CFX for numerical simulation and compared turbulence models and surface roughness for determining the performance. To obtain reliable and robust blades, we analyzed the effective manufacturing method with Moldflow. Through a test with an open-suction type atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel, we varied wind speed from 4.0 m/s to the rated value of 12.5 m/s and obtained 106 W, equivalent to a power coefficient of 0.205. In addition, we compared the numerical and experimental power vs. rotational speed and found the former is 6.5% lower than the latter. In this study, we proved that numerical simulations can act as design verification methods to predict wind turbine performances and reliable manufacturing. Through our research, we provided the prototype of a small wind turbine with 100 W to act as an efficient electric power supplier for households and also the stable manufacturing process for complex spiral blades using injection molding.