Global warming and human health effects of wood heating life cycle in the Grand-Est region in France

Abstract

In France, residential wood heating represents 52% of the share of energy produced from renewable resources for heat production. The forest of the Grand Est region (FR) covers one third of the regional territory and 12% of the national forest area. The main purpose of this study is to assess and to compare the global warming and the human health effects of the wood energy sector at domestic and regional scales. Five scenarios systems were studied. S1 (wood-log scenario and S2 (pellet scenario) were compared in real conditions of use. S3 studies in details the pellet manufacturing process. The novelty of the study compares S1 and S2 at the regional scale with two new scenarios S4 and S5 considering the entire log inserts and pellets stoves listed in the region. A cradle-to-grave approach was applied including all stages from forestry operations to heat production by combustion. Scenario S2 leads to a higher global change than S1 with values of 73.7 and 44.1 kg CO2eq per ton of green wood, respectively. If the combustion stage of pellets emits less greenhouse gases than the combustion of logs, the stage production contributes for 67% of the total impact. The packaging was the main process having the highest health and environmental impacts. At regional scale, the combustion stage mainly enhances all impacts due to the presence of old appliances with low environmental efficiency. Public policies must continue their efforts to promote the replacement of old household appliances.