Cradle-to-gate life cycle impacts of redwood forest resource harvesting in northern California

Han, Han-Sup; Oneil, Elaine; Bergman, Richard; Eastin, Ivan; Johnson, Leonard R.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.088

Cited by 31 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…On the other hand, environmental-emission assessments have been used by life-cycle models to examine several other efficiency-related decision-making issues in the forest industry [44][45][46][47]. The energy efficiency calculations of these studies are focused on balancing CO 2 -emissions for reducing climate change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Energy Efficiency in a Synchronized Road-Transportation System by Using a TFMC (Transportation Fleet-Management Control) in Finland

Palander

Kärhä

2019

Energies

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Previous studies have suggested that the use of high-capacity transportation (HCT) can lead to low-carbon road-transportation in the forest industry. This study shows the impacts (in terms of energy efficiency) of a three-year adaptation process of transportation (2014–2016) towards HCT that took place in a synchronized transportation system (STS). The use of three transportation fleet-management control (TFMC) methods was analyzed in various road infrastructures. Energy-efficiency calculations were undertaken based on the HCT vehicles’ mass limits (64, 68 and 76 t). The use of 76 t vehicles increased energy efficiency by 13.4% and reduced CO2 emissions by 3.5% (to 49.6 g/tkm). In addition, the results show that the energy efficiency of the STS could be improved by a further 3.1%. In this respect, the proposed TFMC was used to adjust the STS towards vehicle-group transportation while meeting the road-class constraints of local wood supply chains. Forest-industry companies in Finland and abroad can use the tailored TFMC to optimize the STS in the near future and to achieve the energy-efficient STS and the regulations of the European Commission in wood-procurement logistics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Energy Efficiency in a Synchronized Road-Transportation System by Using a TFMC (Transportation Fleet-Management Control) in Finland

Palander

Kärhä

2019

Energies

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“…LCA has been applied to manufacturing (López Gayarre et al, 2015;Gan et al, 2016a), renewable energy production (Suwanit and Gheewala, 2011;Turney and Fthenakis, 2011;Varun et al, 2012;González-García et al, 2013b;Zhang et al, 2014), and forest product production (Dias and Arroja, 2012;Cambria and Pierangeli, 2012;González-García et al, 2013a, 2014aHan et al, 2015), among other fields. To quantify the environmental impacts of river restoration, this study proposed using a cradle-to-gate LCA (including material sourcing, transportation, and project construction) for two phases of a SHI project, which were completed in fall of 2015 and 2016, respectively.…”

Section: River Restoration Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LCA has been used to quantify the environmental impacts of producing forest products (Dias and Arroja, 2012;González-García et al, 2012, 2013ba, 2014b;a;Cambria and Pierangeli, 2012;Handler et al, 2014;Han et al, 2015). A component of each of these studies models the environmental impacts of using heavy equipment to log, forward, and transport logs.…”

Section: Lca Applications In Forest Harvest and Management Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The final logging phase includes final cutting, yarding, and loading onto trucks-a process which can be like some river restoration activities. Last, transportation activities include the final hauling of logs to the sawmill gate (Dias and Arroja, 2012;Cambria and Pierangeli, 2012;González-García et al, 2013a, 2014ba;Han et al, 2015).…”

Section: Lca Applications In Forest Harvest and Management Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also within the goal and scope phase of a LCA, a functional unit is used to define what is being studied and to define the inputs and outputs of the LCI and LCIA phases (ISO, 2006). For instance, the majority of the forestry studies reviewed use 1 m 3 of roundwood either including bark, or under the bark as the functional unit (Dias and Arroja, 2012;Cambria and Pierangeli, 2012;González-García et al, 2014a;Han et al, 2015). Other studies have different functional units, such as one green metric tonne of forest biomass (Handler et al, 2014), growing one hectare of willows (González-García et al, 2012), or producing 1 millijoule of heat from the combustion of willow chips (González-García et al, 2013b).…”

Section: Lca Applications In Forest Harvest and Management Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantifying the Environmental Performance of a Stream Habitat Improvement Project

Morse¹

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River restoration projects are being installed worldwide to rehabilitate degraded river habitat. Many of these projects focus on stream habitat improvement (SHI), and an estimated 60%of the 37,000 projects listed in the National River Restoration Science Synthesis Program focus on SHI for salmon and trout species. These projects frequently lack a sufficient monitoring program or account for the environmental costs associated with SHI. The present study used life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques and topographic effectiveness monitoring to quantify environmental costs on the basis of geomorphic change. This methodology was a novel approach to assessing the cost-benefit relationship of SHI. To test this methodology, two phases of the Lower Scotts Creek Floodplain and Habitat Enhancement Project (LSCR) were used as a case study. The LSCR was a SHI project installed along the northern coast of Santa Cruz County, California, USA. A limited scope LCA was used to quantify the life cycle impacts of raw material production, materials transportation, and on-site construction. Once these baseline results were produced, a topographic monitoring program was used to quantify the topographic diversity index (TDI) in pre-and post-project conditions. The TDI percent change was used to scale the baseline LCA results, which quantified the environmental impacts based on geomorphic change. Phase II outperformed phase I. Phase I had greater cumulative environmental impacts and experienced a 7.7 % TDI increase from pre-to post-project conditions. Phase II had 43% less cumulative environmental impacts and experienced a 7.9% TDI increase from pre-to post-project conditions. The impacts in phase I were greater because of the amount of material excavated to create off-channel features, which were a key feature of the LSCR. A scenario analysis also was conducted within the LCA component of this study. The scenario analysis suggests that life cycle impacts could be reduced by 30%-65% by using the accelerated recruitment method in place of importing materials to build large wood complexes. The results of this study suggest that managers may improve the environmental performance of SHI projects by: (1) using the accelerated recruitment method to introduce larger key pieces to the channel, reducing the need to import materials; (2) using nursery grown plants as opposed to excavating plants for revegetation; (3) minimizing fuel combustion in heavy equipment and haul trucks by ensuring clear access to the channel and streambank, using small engine equipment to clear access corridors during site preparation, running more fuel-efficient machinery or bio-fuel powered machinery, and by attempting to minimize haul distances by sourcing materials locally; and (4) utilizing a "franken-log" design (a ballasted LWC configuration with a rootwad fastened to the downstream end of a log) in LWCs which led to favorable TDI change. This study concluded that LCA could be a valuable tool for monitoring SHI and river restoration projects and that further research ...

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Economic analysis of forest residues supply chain options to produce enhanced‐quality feedstocks

Sahoo

Bilek

Bergman

et al. 2018

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

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Woody biomass feedstock that is both high quality and low cost has become increasingly important for the bioenergy and bioproducts industries. Logging generates forest residues – low‐quality feedstock – and additional operations that also incur additional costs, such as biomass sorting and treetops processing (BSTP), micro‐chipping, and screening, which are required to improve the feedstock's quality. Considering recent developments in technologies and BSTP to generate high‐quality feedstocks, economic models were developed in this study to estimate various forest‐residue logistics operational costs and to analyze the economics of delivering feedstocks to biomass conversion technology (BCT) sites near woods or power plants located far away in the form of chips, hog fuel, and bales. The results show that the cost of BSTP can vary between $30 and $82/ODMT (oven dry metric ton) based on the biomass sorting intensity. The most economical way to deliver forest residues was transporting processed stem‐wood from landings to near‐wood BCT sites and comminuting it into woodchips there (~$20/ODMT, assuming a one‐way (32 km) road distance and no cost of BSTP at landings). Grinding slash at the landing and transporting ground‐biomass (i.e., hog fuel) to a plant (< 22 km away) was more economical than transporting bales from landings and grinding at the plant. The economic feasibility of baling and BSTP requires a substantial productivity improvement or recognition and incorporation of benefits including reduced wildfire risk and improved forest health. High bulk density and strong shape of forest residues/slash bales compared to hog fuel may provide additional cost benefits during storage, for example through lower handling costs, which can be studied in the future. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Cradle-to-gate life cycle impacts of redwood forest resource harvesting in northern California

Cited by 31 publications

References 11 publications

Improving Energy Efficiency in a Synchronized Road-Transportation System by Using a TFMC (Transportation Fleet-Management Control) in Finland

Improving Energy Efficiency in a Synchronized Road-Transportation System by Using a TFMC (Transportation Fleet-Management Control) in Finland

Quantifying the Environmental Performance of a Stream Habitat Improvement Project

Economic analysis of forest residues supply chain options to produce enhanced‐quality feedstocks

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