Life Cycle Analysis of Hardwood Products from Lumber to Floor Coverings

Transcription

1 Life Cycle Analysis of Hardwood Products from Lumber to Floor Coverings September 21st 2010 Fredericton, NB Patrick Lavoie Researcher Markets and Economics Group

2 Presentation content What is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)? Example of previous work Progress on hardwood initiative Results for hardwood lumber and flooring 30/09/2010 2

3 What is Lifecycle Analysis (LCA)? Source: O Connor. 30/09/2010 3

4 How is LCA done? Cradle Gate Grave Source: O Connor /09/2010 4

5 Typical Steps in LCA Establish goal and scope. Identify participating manufacturing facilities according to ISO Develop questionnaire Data collection (LCI) Create LCA model Assess impacts using LCI data Perform sensitivity analysis Interpret results, make recommendations and draw conclusions Write report and submit to peers for review 30/09/2010 5

6 Information needed to perform LCA Production and residues Consumption Species Volumes Distances Energy Water Nails / screws Other inputs (fluids, greases, plastics, etc.) Emissions Air Water 30/09/2010 6

7 What does Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) do? Differentiation from competing products on an environmental standpoint Objective picture of manufacturing operations and overall efficiency 30/09/2010 7

8 Greenhouse gas emissions due to manufacturing 30/09/2010 8

9 LCA limitations Quantifies the impact of a product / process across a number of dimensions Embodied energy Waste Air pollution Water pollution / Eutrophication / Acidification GHG emissions Resource use Water use No global number, weighting and interpretation is necessary Does not cover IEQ, toxicology and site specific extraction effects Expensive exercise 30/09/2010 9

10 Wood s Negative Carbon Footprint A Positive! Using LCA, we can calculate carbon balances for wood products. CO 2 removal - The C is used to make wood The C balance here is negative CO 2 emissions due to harvesting, manufacturing, transportation - C is captured / sequestered in products + More C is in the product than was emitted to atmosphere in making the product - negative Net C 30/09/

11 OSB s carbon balance 1,000 ft² OSB: Harvesting Stored: kg CO 2 Emissions: kg CO 2 Net GHG = -758 kg CO 2 = emissions from 1.8 barrels of oil Not included: Emissions avoided by not using some other product. This number is even larger. 30/09/

12 Environmental footprint for various walls Benchmark This data was generated using the simplified LCA software tool, the Athena EcoCalculator. Available for free at 30/09/

13 LCA: Wood vs. steel across 7 sample measures For a post-and-beam building, wood is the benchmark and shown against typical steel (25% recycled content) and a hypothetical steel at 100% recycled content. Source: Calculated using the Athena Impact Estimator 30/09/

14 Embodied energy, typical house 30/09/

15 FPInnovations involvement in LCA Eastern hardwood initiative funded by most provincial and federal governments Numerous projects within initiative LCA of floor covering (hardwood) Hardwood harvesting and sawmilling Next year: cabinets, mouldings, furniture and pallets 30/09/

16 Progress of LCA project Hardwood flooring gate-togate LCA Harvesting LCA Completed Lumber manufacturing cradle-to-gate LCA Completed for March 2011 Alternate floorings cradle-to-grave LCAs Hardwood flooring cradle-tograve LCA Cabinet cradle-tograve LCA Furniture cradle-tograve LCA Completed Aug Various floorings, comparative cradleto-grave LCA Millwork cradle-tograve LCA Pallets cradle-tograve LCA 30/09/

17 Cradle-to-Grave Flooring the Product System Forestry Manufacturing End of life

18 Method A multi-product system: Lumber manufacturing Main product: lumber Co-products: pulp chips, sawdust, bark Flooring manufacturing Main product: flooring Co-product: hog fuel Allocation of environmental burden to products and co-products was done according to ISO standards for LCA (socio-economic option) 30/09/

19 Method Environmental impact indicators were chosen according to the ISO standards for building material EPDs (ISO and 21930) Chosen impact indicators Global warming: greenhouse gas emissions in CO 2 equivalent Acidification: sulphate and nitrate emissions to air and water Eutrophication: phosphate, nitrate and sulphate emissions to water Ozone depletion: ozone depleting substances Smog formation: ground level ozone formation due to VOCs and NOx emissions Non-renewable resource depletion, e.g. fossil fuel 30/09/

20 Method Required minimum sample size: An LCA needs a representative sample with at least three companies and at least 5% of total industry production. Harvesting 3 harvesting companies from QC, ON and NB Sample size: 20% of industry production in Lumber Manufacturing 4 mills from QC and NB. Sample size: 10% of industry production in /09/

21 Green hardwood lumber (cradle gate) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Cl i mat e Aci di f i cat i on E ut r ophi cat i on Oz one Smog T ot al ener gy Fossi l nonr enewabl e Nucl ear nonr enewabl e Bi omass r enewabl e Ot her r enewabl e Sawmilling Harvesting Note: 76% 2009 environmental FPInnovations. All rights impacts reserved. allocated to green lumber manufacturing. Benchmark graph presenting Copying normalized and redistribution results prohibited. based on highest score. 30/09/

22 Hardwood flooring (gate to gate) 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% -20% -40% -60% -80% -100% Climate Acidification Eutrophication Ozone Smog Fossil fuel nonrenew. Flooring (gate gate) Moulding Drying Finishing *Note: 95% environmental impacts allocated to pre-finished flooring **Impact evaluation 2009 FPInnovations. method: All rights TRACI reserved. 2 and CED for presentation V3.03 / Characterization / Excludes infrastructures linked to processes.. 30/09/

23 Conclusions Wood, in general, is well positioned from an environmental standpoint LCA is the best tool available to quantify environmental performance of products LCA can force companies to reexamine products, processes, inputs, etc. (continuous improvements) Initiative underway in 2010/11 30/09/

24 Questions / comments? Patrick Lavoie Researcher FPInnovations Markets and Economics Group (418) x 3106 patrick.lavoie@fpinnovations.ca 30/09/

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