IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i5p1278-d209771.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Produced in Western Washington: The Role of Logistics and Wood Species Mix

Author

Listed:
  • Cindy X. Chen

    (Center for International Trade in Forest Products (CINTRAFOR), School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA)

  • Francesca Pierobon

    (Center for International Trade in Forest Products (CINTRAFOR), School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA)

  • Indroneil Ganguly

    (Center for International Trade in Forest Products (CINTRAFOR), School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA)

Abstract

The use of cross-laminated timber (CLT), as an environmentally sustainable building material, has generated significant interest among the wood products industry, architects and policy makers in Washington State. However, the environmental impacts of CLT panels can vary significantly depending on material logistics and wood species mix. This study developed a regionally specific cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of CLT produced in western Washington. Specifically, this study focused on transportation logistics, mill location, and relevant wood species mixes to provide a comparative analysis for CLT produced in the region. For this study, five sawmills (potential lamstock suppliers) in western Washington were selected along with two hypothetical CLT mills. The results show that the location of lumber suppliers, in reference to the CLT manufacturing facilities, and the wood species mix are important factors in determining the total environmental impacts of the CLT production. Additionally, changing wood species used for lumber from a heavier species such as Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ) to a lighter species such as Sitka spruce ( Picea sitchensis ) could generate significant reduction in the global warming potential (GWP) of CLT. Given the size and location of the CLT manufacturing facilities, the mills can achieve up to 14% reduction in the overall GWP of the CLT panels by sourcing the lumber locally and using lighter wood species.

Suggested Citation

  • Cindy X. Chen & Francesca Pierobon & Indroneil Ganguly, 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Produced in Western Washington: The Role of Logistics and Wood Species Mix," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:5:p:1278-:d:209771
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1278/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1278/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steffen Lehmann, 2012. "Sustainable Construction for Urban Infill Development Using Engineered Massive Wood Panel Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(10), pages 1-36, October.
    2. Ying Liu & Haibo Guo & Cheng Sun & Wen-Shao Chang, 2016. "Assessing Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) as an Alternative Material for Mid-Rise Residential Buildings in Cold Regions in China—A Life-Cycle Assessment Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Haibo Guo & Ying Liu & Yiping Meng & Haoyu Huang & Cheng Sun & Yu Shao, 2017. "A Comparison of the Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Performance between Reinforced Concrete and Cross-Laminated Timber Structures in Residential Buildings in the Severe Cold Region of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Ramage, Michael H. & Burridge, Henry & Busse-Wicher, Marta & Fereday, George & Reynolds, Thomas & Shah, Darshil U. & Wu, Guanglu & Yu, Li & Fleming, Patrick & Densley-Tingley, Danielle & Allwood, Juli, 2017. "The wood from the trees: The use of timber in construction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 333-359.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tetsuya Iwase & Takanobu Sasaki & Shogo Araki & Tomohumi Huzita & Chihiro Kayo, 2020. "Environmental and Economic Evaluation of Small-Scale Bridge Repair Using Cross-Laminated Timber Floor Slabs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Katsuyuki Nakano & Masahiko Karube & Nobuaki Hattori, 2020. "Environmental Impacts of Building Construction Using Cross-laminated Timber Panel Construction Method: A Case of the Research Building in Kyushu, Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Moncef L. Nehdi & Yannian Zhang & Xiaohan Gao & Lei V. Zhang & Ahmed R. Suleiman, 2021. "Experimental Investigation on Axial Compression of Resilient Nail-Cross-Laminated Timber Panels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Cindy X. Chen & Francesca Pierobon & Susan Jones & Ian Maples & Yingchun Gong & Indroneil Ganguly, 2021. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Mass Timber and Concrete Residential Buildings: A Case Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Shaobo Liang & Hongmei Gu & Richard Bergman, 2021. "Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building: A Case Study in Pacific Northwestern United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-16, July.
    6. Kamalakanta Sahoo & Richard Bergman & Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum & Hongmei Gu & Shaobo Liang, 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-30, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tetsuya Iwase & Takanobu Sasaki & Shogo Araki & Tomohumi Huzita & Chihiro Kayo, 2020. "Environmental and Economic Evaluation of Small-Scale Bridge Repair Using Cross-Laminated Timber Floor Slabs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Minunno, Roberto & O'Grady, Timothy & Morrison, Gregory M. & Gruner, Richard L., 2021. "Investigating the embodied energy and carbon of buildings: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of life cycle assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Kamalakanta Sahoo & Richard Bergman & Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum & Hongmei Gu & Shaobo Liang, 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-30, August.
    4. Antonino Di Bella & Milica Mitrovic, 2020. "Acoustic Characteristics of Cross-Laminated Timber Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-29, July.
    5. Yu Dong & Tongyu Qin & Siyuan Zhou & Lu Huang & Rui Bo & Haibo Guo & Xunzhi Yin, 2020. "Comparative Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Performance of Reinforced Concrete and Timber Stadiums—A Case Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Gabriel Felmer & Rodrigo Morales-Vera & Rodrigo Astroza & Ignacio González & Maureen Puettmann & Mark Wishnie, 2022. "A Lifecycle Assessment of a Low-Energy Mass-Timber Building and Mainstream Concrete Alternative in Central Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-19, January.
    7. Katsuyuki Nakano & Masahiko Karube & Nobuaki Hattori, 2020. "Environmental Impacts of Building Construction Using Cross-laminated Timber Panel Construction Method: A Case of the Research Building in Kyushu, Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-14, March.
    8. Jozef Švajlenka & Mária Kozlovská & František Vranay & Terézia Pošiváková & Miroslava Jámborová, 2020. "Comparison of Laboratory and Computational Models of Selected Thermal-Technical Properties of Constructions Systems Based on Wood," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-15, June.
    9. Endrik Arumägi & Targo Kalamees, 2020. "Cost and Energy Reduction of a New nZEB Wooden Building," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-16, July.
    10. Luo, Li & O'Hehir, Jim & Regan, Courtney M. & Meng, Li & Connor, Jeffery D. & Chow, Christopher W.K., 2021. "An integrated strategic and tactical optimization model for forest supply chain planning," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    11. Ezzatollah Shamsaei & Owen Bolt & Felipe Basquiroto de Souza & Emad Benhelal & Kwesi Sagoe-Crentsil & Jay Sanjayan, 2021. "Pathways to Commercialisation for Brown Coal Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer Concrete in Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, April.
    12. Nazari, Meysam & Jebrane, Mohamed & Terziev, Nasko, 2023. "New hybrid bio-composite based on epoxidized linseed oil and wood particles hosting ethyl palmitate for energy storage in buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    13. Cindy X. Chen & Francesca Pierobon & Susan Jones & Ian Maples & Yingchun Gong & Indroneil Ganguly, 2021. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Mass Timber and Concrete Residential Buildings: A Case Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Yinghui Song & Junwu Wang & Feng Guo & Jiequn Lu & Sen Liu, 2021. "Research on Supplier Selection of Prefabricated Building Elements from the Perspective of Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, May.
    15. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura À. & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2022. "Factors and actions for the sustainability of the residential sector. The nexus of energy, materials, space, and time use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Meng-Ting Tsai & Anthony Sugiharto Wonodihardjo, 2018. "Achieving Sustainability of Traditional Wooden Houses in Indonesia by Utilization of Cost-Efficient Waste-Wood Composite," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, May.
    17. Galina Nyashina & Pavel Strizhak, 2018. "Impact of Forest Fuels on Gas Emissions in Coal Slurry Fuel Combustion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Antiopi Koronaki & Aurimas Bukauskas & Aftab Jalia & Darshil U. Shah & Michael H. Ramage, 2021. "Prefabricated Engineered Timber Schools in the United Kingdom: Challenges and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-15, November.
    19. Yuki Fuchigami & Keisuke Kojiro & Yuzo Furuta, 2020. "Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Wood-Plastic Recycled Composite (WPRC) and Verification of the Effect of Reducing Emissions through Multiple Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, March.
    20. Anastasiades, K. & Blom, J. & Buyle, M. & Audenaert, A., 2020. "Translating the circular economy to bridge construction: Lessons learnt from a critical literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:5:p:1278-:d:209771. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.