Life cycle assessment of utilizing freshly cut urban wood: A case study

Alanya-Rosenbaum, S.; Bergman, R. D.; Wiedenbeck, J.; Hubbard, S. S.; Kelley, S. S.

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127723

Life cycle assessment of utilizing freshly cut urban wood: A case study

Journal Article · Tue Sep 06 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127723· OSTI ID:2424093

Alanya-Rosenbaum, S. ^[1]; Bergman, R. D. ^[2]; Wiedenbeck, J. ^[3]; Hubbard, S. S. ^[4]; Kelley, S. S. ^[5]

USDA Forest Service, Madison, WI (United States); North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States); SCS Global Services, Emeryville, CA
USDA Forest Service, Madison, WI (United States)
USDA Forest Service, Princeton, WV (United States)
Hubbard Forestry Solutions, LLC (United States)
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States)

Large amounts of urban wood resources are generated through tree removals in urban areas. Therefore, there is a growing interest to improve the environmental performance of the urban wood supply chain by quantifying the environmental impacts of creating high-value products from urban tree removals to enhance its utilization. By surveying existing urban wood utilization operations for primary data in two major cities: Baltimore, Maryland, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a new life cycle inventory (LCI) dataset per m³ of dry urban hardwood lumber and live edge slabs was created. Incorporating the new LCI data into life cycle assessment method, the total global warming (GW) impact of converting urban trees to kiln-dried lumber was estimated to be 122 kg CO₂ eq and 336 kg CO₂eq per m³ of lumber produced for Baltimore and Milwaukee, respectively. In both cases, the total environmental impact of the product was dominated by the conversion of urban trees to kiln dried lumber at the sawmill processing stage. Using scenario analysis for the source of heat generation used in kiln (force) drying wood, substituting wood fuel from coproducts for natural gas in a boiler for Milwaukee resulted in a substantial reduction in fossil-derived GW impact. Urban and traditional hardwood lumber production follow similar GW impact trajectories over their life-cycle stages with the lumber processing stage having the highest environmental impacts for both. Finally, increasing the overall lumber yield and decreasing kiln (force) drying would substantially improve the environmental performance of urban hardwood lumber and help make it comparable to traditional lumber.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-06OR23100

OSTI ID:: 2424093

Journal Information:: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Journal Name: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening Vol. 76; ISSN 1618-8667

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (25)

A single tree model to consistently simulate cooling, shading, and pollution uptake of urban trees Pace, Rocco; De Fino, Francesco; Rahman, Mohammad A. International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 65, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-02030-8	journal	October 2020
TRACI 2.0: the tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts 2.0 Bare, Jane Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, Vol. 13, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-010-0338-9	journal	January 2011
Carbon footprint associated with four disposal scenarios for urban pruning waste Araújo, Yuri Rommel Vieira; de Góis, Monijany Lins; Junior, Luiz Moreira Coelho Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Vol. 25, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0613-y	journal	November 2017
Key issues and options in accounting for carbon sequestration and temporary storage in life cycle assessment and carbon footprinting Brandão, Miguel; Levasseur, Annie; Kirschbaum, Miko U. F. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 18, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0451-6	journal	June 2012
The ecoinvent database version 3 (part I): overview and methodology Wernet, Gregor; Bauer, Christian; Steubing, Bernhard The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 21, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1087-8	journal	April 2016
A Decade of Improved Lumber Drying Technology Bond, Brian H.; Espinoza, Omar Current Forestry Reports, Vol. 2, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-016-0034-z	journal	April 2016
Solar timber kilns: State of the art and foreseeable developments Luna, D.; Nadeau, J. -P.; Jannot, Y. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 13, Issue 6-7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.08.017	journal	August 2009
Current and future biomass carbon uptake in Boston's urban forest Trlica, Andrew; Hutyra, Lucy R.; Morreale, Luca L. Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 709 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136196	journal	March 2020
Energy and environmental analysis of an indirect hybrid solar dryer of wood using TRNSYS software Lamrani, Bilal; Khouya, Ahmed; Draoui, Abdeslam Solar Energy, Vol. 183 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.03.014	journal	May 2019
Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide for different arboricultural practices in Los Angeles, CA McPherson, E. Gregory; Kendall, Alissa; Albers, Shannon Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Vol. 14, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2015.04.004	journal	January 2015
Factors driving natural regeneration beneath a planted urban forest Doroski, Danica A.; Felson, Alexander J.; Bradford, Mark A. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Vol. 29 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.11.019	journal	January 2018
Knock on wood: Business models for urban wood could overcome financing and governance challenges faced by nature-based solutions Kampelmann, Stephan Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Vol. 62 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127108	journal	July 2021
Considering Time in LCA: Dynamic LCA and Its Application to Global Warming Impact Assessments Levasseur, Annie; Lesage, Pascal; Margni, Manuele Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 44, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/es9030003	journal	April 2010
Performance and energy efficiency of alternative comminution principles: Chipping versus grinding Spinelli, Raffaele; Cavallo, Eugenio; Facello, Alessio Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, Vol. 27, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2011.644577	journal	June 2012
US Urban Forest Statistics, Values, and Projections Nowak, David J.; Greenfield, Eric J. Journal of Forestry, Vol. 116, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvx004	journal	March 2018
The Carbon Impacts of Wood Products Bergman, Richard; Puettmann, Maureen; Taylor, Adam Forest Products Journal, Vol. 64, Issue 7-8 https://doi.org/10.13073/FPJ-D-14-00047	journal	December 2014
Cradle-to-Gate Life-Cycle Assessment of Laminated Veneer Lumber Production in the United States* Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda Forest Products Journal, Vol. 67, Issue 5-6 https://doi.org/10.13073/FPJ-D-16-00046	journal	September 2017
Life-Cycle Assessment for Wood-Fired Boilers Used in the Wood Products Industry* Puettmann, Maureen E.; Milota, Michael Forest Products Journal, Vol. 67, Issue 5-6 https://doi.org/10.13073/FPJ-D-16-00064	journal	September 2017
Analysis of hardwood lumber grade yields using Monte Carlo simulation Quesada, Henry; Adhikari, Sailesh; Bond, Brian BioResources, Vol. 14, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.15376/biores.14.1.2029-2050	journal	January 2019
Changes in the quality of the northern U.S. hardwood timber resource from 2008 to 2017 Luppold, William G.; Bumgardner, Matthew S. BioResources, Vol. 14, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.15376/biores.14.3.6304-6315	journal	June 2019
Comparison of Carbon Footprint and Variable Costs of Selected Nursery Production Systems for a 5-cm-caliper Red Maple Ingram, Dewayne L.; Hall, Charles R. HortScience, Vol. 51, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.51.4.383	journal	April 2016
Forest Resources of the United States, 2017: a technical document supporting the Forest Service 2020 RPA Assessment Oswalt, Sonja N.; Smith, W. Brad; Miles, Patrick D. USDA Forest Service https://doi.org/10.2737/WO-GTR-97	report	January 2019
Urban Trees and Human Health: A Scoping Review Wolf, Kathleen L.; Lam, Sharon T.; McKeen, Jennifer K. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 17, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124371	journal	June 2020
Health Benefits Derived from Forest: A Review Grilli, Gianluca; Sacchelli, Sandro International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 17, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176125	journal	August 2020
Quantifying Urban Saw Timber Abundance and Quality in Southeastern Lower Michigan, U.S. MacFarlane, David Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, Vol. 33, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2007.029	journal	July 2007

Similar Records

Lumber drying in West Virginia: results of an industry survey

Journal Article · Sat Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1983 · W.Va., Univ. Agric. Exp. Stn., Bull.; (United States) · OSTI ID:5159657

A commercially viable solar wood drying kiln system

Journal Article · Thu Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1998 · Drying Technology · OSTI ID:355700

A Comparative Life-Cycle Assessment of Briquetting Logging Residues and Lumber Manufacturing Coproducts in Western United States

Journal Article · Sun Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2017 · Applied Engineering in Agriculture · OSTI ID:1541894

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Environmental impacts
Greenhouse gases
Lumber
Supply chain
Tree removal
Urban forestry

Life cycle assessment of utilizing freshly cut urban wood: A case study

Citation Formats

References (25)

Similar Records

Related Subjects