Howdy,
There's a whole uncertain area of what constitutes a green approach.
Solvents used to clean up gear are perhaps the biggest health risks, the biggest contributors to greenhouse. But because they are "invisible" it is easy to ignore their effect.
For factories producing consumer items the big areas of improvement, often in response to legislation in the more Green conscious EEC has been the reduction of VOC (volatile organic compounds) and also to reduce waste.
Epoxy is ahead of the game at least on the construction end because the good epoxies are all "high solids" ... little or no added solvents. This is also what gives it the high waterproofness. Add to that the idea of using items for as long as possible and then disposing starts to make sense. I understand that is what the carbon conscious factories do too. The cleanup has too many negative effects.
With epoxy we can use vinegar for cleanup which avoids the volatile organic compounds. The fly in the ointment (epoxy) is any traces of vinegar left on the tools can prevent the epoxy from curing the next time they are used. So generally I would only recommend for tools with hard surfaces that can be rinsed, wiped and dried effectively.
Another factor is good quality disposable stuff. For example I know my friends who sell disposable rollers have had problems finding good quality ones at times. But good quality rollers would certainly do all three coats on the bulkheads or all the coats on a set of foils for the cost of one 3" (75mm) roller. Or maybe 2 to do the whole coating and glass taping of the outside of a goat.
But the problem is always finding a good supply.
Of course it is almost impossible to talk about this in a way that wouldn't seem like hedging to kids. That is the problem faced by all management as a greater requirement to be really green. It is great they keep the pressure on!
In general I think the use of epoxy is a sound environmental choice. It provides protection for the wooden structure (keeping the carbon that makes up the wooden structure out of the atmosphere) so that the structure continues in perfect condition for well over a decade, rather than the slowly increasing leaks and problems of alternative glues and coatings.
It also avoids lots of additional maintenance coats of paint and varnish ... depending on how much sun the structure gets ... So think of how much industrial processing to make paint, solvents to cleanup, rollers and brushes it saves through the years.
I know I use it a lot ... but this photo is Peter Hyndman's Goat after 12 or 13 years. There had been a lot of care to avoid sun contact, but the boat was in the open under covers for years and would collect enough water to turn lifejackets green with mould - just imagine the tropical heat mixed with water in the boat.
The varnish and two pot paint has not been touched once. A real example of how epoxy stabilises the wood fibre so there is no movement in the structure because of humidity, stress, freezing or water ingress or any combination.
I think we will all eventually see more realistic evaluations of green-ness rather than the sort of "making points" version that I am using above.
One that riles me is the "recycling" of plastics ... like shopping bags .. into pseudo wood. REAL recycling seems to me that it should approach the original usefulness of the original raw material. I think the loss of potential pharmaceuticals, as one example, because it is profitable to make disposable shopping bags is a tragedy. Allocation of resources under a market driven system assumes the resource is unlimited. Allocation always moves towards profitability rather than best potential use. So that's the reason for having governments and regulation.
But that is an answer we will gradually struggle towards solutions.
I hope that long lived wood epoxy structures end up on the right side of history! At least they are better than plastic shopping bags and probably fibreglass or aluminium boats.
Look forward to see how the silicon brush goes. If it provides a lot of use without solvent cleanup and without holding vinegar then it will be truly worthwhile.
Best wishes
MIK
Does epoxy stick to silicone? 
