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What Does Rogers International Offer?
The Ideal Wood Pole & Ideal Wood Crossarms

- Lifecycle cost is 40 % the lifecycle cost for the treated softwood poles
- No preservation treatment
- Field Lives of 60 to 80 years
- No pole test and treat O&M expenses
- Substantial higher fiber strength
- No disposal cost or uncertainty in the future with EPA’s treated wood disposal regulations and much higher cost
- Very high salvage – The tropical hardwoods are very sought after wood species
- High fire resistance – Tested charring rates of 0.3 mm/min to 0.4 mm/min
- High dielectric strength
- No new tools or equipment for field installation, operation, and maintenance in the field
- No changes in the work practice

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Utilities that decide to use the “All Naturally Durable Hardwoods – Poles and Crossarms” in their OH networks will be investing in their company’s future financial well being. Here are the reasons this is so;

The Naturally Durable Hardwood Poles and Crossarms Embody all the Required Properties for the “Ideal” Wood Pole and Ideal Wood Crossarm for the Utility Industry. Here is why;

- Does not require preservation treatment
- Have 60 to 80 years of field life in North America (40 to 60 yrs in the Amazon soil)
- Require no remedial preservation treatment every 10 to 15 years like the treated softwoods of North America requires
- Have substantially higher fiber strength than the Treated Doug Fir or Southern Yellow Pine
- Have no disposal issues
- Have very high salvage value
- Have high resistance to fires
- Have high Dielectric Strength
- Requires no new tool or equipment for their installation, operation and maintenance in the field
- No changes to work practices
- Lifecycle cost is under 40% the lifecycle cost for the treated softwood poles
The Comparison

The treated softwood poles (Doug Fir or Southern Yellow Pine) may have a low first cost, however they require remedial treatment in the field every 10 years, and are required by the EPA to be properly disposed of, which disposal has a cost associated with them. The issue of disposal becomes more uncertain 40 years into the future, as EPA has been imposing more and more stringent restrictions over the past 15 years. These poles have a field life of approximately 35 years.

The Naturally Durable Hardwood poles and crossarms have a slight higher first cost, however there is no remedial treatment every 10 to 15 years, there is no disposal issue as the naturally durable hardwoods do not accept preservation treatment in fact they have a very high salvage value, they have much greater field lives and have higher fiber strength than the treated doug fir or southern yellow pine poles and crossarms.

Lifecycle Cost

Poles – The lifecycle cost of the Naturally Durable Hardwoods poles is 37% of the lifecycle cost of the treated Doug Fir poles.

Crossarms – The lifecycle cost for the Naturally Durable Hardwoods crossarms is 65% of the lifecycle cost of the treated Doug Fir crossarms.

From the lifecycle cost analysis perspective the naturally durable hardwood species will help the utility engineers design an overhead distribution and transmission system that is reliable/safe, of high quality, and and cost efficient.

The Engineering, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of a Utility’s OH Network

Engineers are taught to design safe and reliable systems, using quality materials, tools and equipment, and make sure qualified/experienced staff perform the construction, operations and maintenance of those systems to achieve the best safe and reliable network possible.

What is lacking is the reference to cost. Unfortunately, among the three critical elements when designing a systems (quality, schedule and cost), cost is the element least emphasized in engineering school, yet it is the predominant criteria in the electric utilities’ world.

Historically, first cost has always been the driver in selecting materials and other resources to perform the work, because the assumption is that the specifications in the Request for Quotation document makes all bids equal, so the logical final choice is the least cost bid proposal. But, that is not true in most cases… Different products and materials have different operations, maintenance requirements, and retirement disposal requirements, which results in added costs to the utilities. The proper approach is to look at the overall lifecycle cost to the utility for using that material.

The Environmental Benefits

Rogers International firmly believes the utility industry can become a significant contributor to the rain forest preservation effort via the utilization of the tropical hardwoods for poles and cross arms from FSC Certified Managed Forests. In short, opening the utility market of North America for the responsibly produced all natural tropical hardwood poles and cross arms will help mitigate the use of pesticides for the preservation treatment of utility poles and cross arms, while at the same time help preserve the Amazon Rain Forests. This is true Environmental Synergy!

Here is why;

Logging via the Sustainable Forest Management practice follows the Low Impact Logging process, which means the ecosystems and habitat of the forests will be preserved. More importantly 5 to 10 trees will grow in the place of the tree that was harvested for the pole. This means a net gain of trees growing in the Amazon Forest.

Working with FSC Certified Forests will help reduce current depletion rate of the Amazon Rain forests, which without the sustainable forest management programs the forests will effectively be destroyed by approximately 40% by 2040. Please refer to the picture below, which shows the entire Amazon Basin deforestation dilemma, where fire is the preferred method of forest elimination. Both pictures were provided by the Secretary of State for the State of Amazon. FSC Certified Managed Forests helps preserve the rain forests by eliminating the slash and burn, poaching, illegal logging, land invaders, etc…

In addition, FSC Certified Managed Forests practices Reforestation Programs. There are many forest depleted areas in the Amazon Rain Forest region, which the Brazilian Government as well as the Government of the State of Amazon will gladly work towards full reforestation, and the FSC Certified Forests are already working with the Government to grow and regain the Amazon Rain Forests. These reforestation areas are being replanted with tree species of high value for commercial use.

Rogers International Environmental Vision

Rogers International Developed a Synergy Vision for the Application of Tropical Hardwoods as an “Ideal” environmental solution for poles and crossarms for the Utilities of North America, that Vision is;

Promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests, following strict standards of recognized and respected Principles of Forest Stewardship.

The Environmental Stewardship Motto

Not destroy one environment for the benefit of another but help both environments and regain and preserve the rainforest of the Amazon.

ANSI Standard Approval

After 5 years of intense work with the ASC O5 Committee, the All Natural Durable Hardwoods Pole Standard – Dimensions and Specifications was approved via the formal ballot process and forwarded to ANSI’s Board of Standards Review for adoption as an ANSI Standard. On July 17, 2009 the ANSI Board of Standards Review sent a formal communiqué to ASC O5 committee members formally approving the new standard on naturally durable hardwoods. The new standard titled “ANSI 05.4 – All Natural Durable Hardwoods Pole Standard – Dimensions & Specifications was published on July of 2009. In a similar fashion, a year later, July 13, 2010, the ANSI’s Board of Standards Review approved the “ANSI O5.6 – All Natural Durable Hardwoods Crossarms & Braces Standard – Dimensions & Specifications”. Both standards are now available through ANSI at www.ansi.org.