Title:
Environmental Implications of a Regional Extension of Wood Energy Production with Special Attention to Its Material Use in Wood Cascades
Author(s):
Gärtner, S.O., Reinhardt, G., Zipfel, G., Baur, F., Wern, B.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
Wood demand is rising and its production can only be extended to a certain degree. This requires a pri¬oritisation of wood use options. Therefore, the environmental aspects of using wood for energy production or as a material with and without cascading recycling steps of stepwise lower value are studied in a comprehensive life cycle assessment. The results show that under most conditions the environmental impacts are lower the more steps of mate¬rial use are performed before wood is used for energy production. One has to consider, though, that extended material use cascades can cause decades of delays of the energy recovery step, which may lead to the replacement of cleaner energy sources in the future and thus worse results for the assessed wood use process. As a chance, long-lived wood products can potentially serve for increasing carbon stock and at the same time save greenhouse gas emissions be¬cause they contain more carbon per unit of energy content than many fossil fuels.
Keywords:
bioenergy, greenhouse gases (GHG), life cycle assessment (LCA), timber, wood, environmental impact
Topic:
Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability
Subtopic:
Sustainability assessment and criteria
Event:
20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
5DO.4.4
Pages:
2095 - 2099
ISBN:
978-88-89407-54-7
Paper DOI:
10.5071/20thEUBCE2012-5DO.4.4
Price:
FREE
