the land of ice: field trip 2: factories

last week i went on another little field trip for work but this time it was for my project-first we went to the glulam factory and then the steel siding factory--it was so cool to see how these things are made!
my project: i’m comparing the environmental impacts (energy use, transportation, and emissions from collecting raw materials, processing them, manufacturing them into useful things, and installing and using them) of three different building types here in iceland. lots of people have done this for other countries but since some of the products are made here (using geothermal or hydro generated electricity) but most are imported (mostly from norway = lots of transportation) the environmental impacts will be slightly different. the goal is to figure out what would be the best, or least environmentally harmful, way to build buildings in iceland. i'm comparing three buildings, one with a steel frame, one with a reinforced concrete frame, and one with a glulam (wood) frame, and two types of roof/siding for the buildings. i have data on what it takes to make steel and concrete but i'm collecting primary data for the glulam and siding so i have to know how they actually make the stuff.
glulam! it's short for glue laminated wood, and it's basically a bunch of 2x4 glued together to make a much bigger, much stronger, piece of wood. while the glue is still wet they can curve the wood and make huge support beams for buildings; it makes the inside of a building bright and open and i think it's actually quite pretty. the icelandic word for glulam is limtre which i think sounds a little nicer. all the wood has to be imported from norway.