If you enter the Panasonic booth from the left side of the "CO2 -60% ideas for your entire home" stage, you will see a wooden floor that has a warm feel to it. This is the "E Floor" made by Panasonic Electric Works. It is a new flooring using a new material, the "special hard chip board" made of 100% recycled wood. The raw materials for this "special hard chip board" is made of pulverized construction scrap wood and mill ends from making plywood. This floor is made from such scrap wood, which would normally be thrown away as waste, and by using special adhesive, and hot pressing and moulding processes. This eco idea is highly praised and the "E Floor" received the Eco-Products Grand Prize this year.

The chips in the small glass bottles on the left are the raw materials for the "E Floor." There are 2 types of chips - some fine, some more coarse. And by lining up the fine chips on top of coarse chips and pressing them together, you end up with a hard board. The board on the right side of the glass bottles is the "special hard chip board" and behind it you can see the "E Floor."

Japanese housing have a short lifespan in comparison to homes around the world. And I have heard that the amount of scrap wood from homes being taken down is just immense. But recently, the concept of a "200-year homes" has become more widespread. Nevertheless, even despite of this homes with shorter life spans built in the past will end up being taken down in the future. If we can effectively use such scrap wood, it will help reduce CO2 emissions and preserve forests, and you can enjoy your wooden floor without feeing guilty at all.