A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of alternative material for Australian building construction

Abstract

Abstract. The use of wood is seen as a sustainable alternative to reduce environmental impacts in building and construction sector. The low quality hardwood logs from plantation thinning are enhanced by producing engineered wood such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Nevertheless, engineered wood requires the use of chemicals and energy that may reduce its environmental benefits. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to compare the environmental performance of LVL produced from forestry thinning and final harvest to steel and concrete. The functional unit used in this study was a 1-m-long structural beam in a continuous beam system of 6-m-span designed according to the Australian standards. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) and embedded energy were assessed. The results indicated that LVL beam from thinned logs presented the lowest GWP impact (5.22kg-CO2-Eq). However, due to significant energy requirements for wood drying, the embedded energy in LVL was 186.78MJ which is only marginally less than steel (216.86MJ) but significantly less than concrete (352.82MJ). LVL from mature hardwood logs had slightly higher GWP than that produced from thinning; mainly due to extra energy and materials consumption in the plantation stage. Furthermore, LVL produced from mature trees had higher embedded energy than steel.

Emerging Engineered Wood for Building Applications

“…258 The results exhibit higher global warming potential (GWP) and embodied energy for LVL from mature logs than thinned logs. 258 Gonzaĺez-Garci ́a et al conducted a cradle-to-gate LCA for wood hardboard and identified that chemicals, electricity, and production of green chips have large contributions to environmental impacts. 259 Compared to the cradle-to-gate system boundary, the cradle-to-grave system boundary can be useful for understanding the impacts of use and end-of-life design, especially in the context of the circular economy.…”

“…Lu et al chose the cradle-to-gate system boundary for a comparative LCA of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) made from thinned logs versus mature logs . The results exhibit higher global warming potential (GWP) and embodied energy for LVL from mature logs than thinned logs . González-García et al conducted a cradle-to-gate LCA for wood hardboard and identified that chemicals, electricity, and production of green chips have large contributions to environmental impacts .…”

“…Results manifest that the location of lumber suppliers and the selection of wood species are important factors in the total environmental impacts . Lu et al chose the cradle-to-gate system boundary for a comparative LCA of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) made from thinned logs versus mature logs . The results exhibit higher global warming potential (GWP) and embodied energy for LVL from mature logs than thinned logs .…”

Analysis of Selected Building Constructions Used in Industrial Construction in Terms of Sustainability Benefits

“…It is one of the most important information tools for environmentally oriented product policy. The LCA can be defined as collecting and evaluating inputs, outputs and possible environmental impacts of the product system throughout the life cycle [29]. According to ISO 14040 and 14044, life cycle assessment is performed in four different phases.…”

Spatial Variability of Human Health Impacts: Application to a Biorefinery Process Implementation

“…LCA methodology found a broad application in decision supporting within the environmental sustainability context due to numerous initiatives launched at national and international levels (UNEP, SETAC, …) in order to facilitate and support its application (Bjørn et al, 2018). Nowadays LCA, covering wide range of domains (energy sector, building industry, agriculture, waste management and others), is widely used within the environmental studies (Góralczyk, 2003;Perminova et al, 2016;Tricase et al, 2017;Hossain et al, 2017;El Hanandeh et al, 2017;Dijkman et al, 2018).…”