I ought to be completing my bid to build cabinets for a high school in California, but an item in the specifications absolutely floored me. After 32 years, I should be numb to this, but I'm amazed.

For this to make sense, you have to understand L.E.E.D. -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design -- a set of rules and awards for the construction industry that encourages architects and engineers to out-green each other.

For the public side of a reception counter in the school, the architect specified a combination of paper stone ("100 percent post-consumer recycled paper") and kirei board ("reclaimed sorghum straw and no added formaldehyde"). If I were to use maple plywood, my cost for materials would be $400, but for the two specified materials, it is $5,760 -- 14 times the cost of maple. Apparently, with "green" there's little interest in cost-benefit analysis.

Why should I care? I just add my mark-up and submit my bid -- more money for me. Why should the architect care? More money for him, plus an award. Why should legislators and school board members care? "Hey, we're green!"

But somewhere there's a taxpayer, what about him or her?

Fred Lewis

Provo