Quantification of future availabilities of recovered wood from Austrian residential buildings

Abstract

In recent years, recovered wood that arises from the demolition of buildings has become a demanded raw material for the production of particleboards and energy. Similarly, several statistics and studies have demonstrated that timber was an important building material during the so-called “Wilhelminian time” and that its use has been increasing since the 1980s. We therefore assume that a considerable volume of timber is contained in the Austrian building stock that serves as a potential raw material. A central question that needs to be addressed in this context is what volumes of timber can be expected to arise from the demolition of residential buildings in the coming years. To answer this question, a generic dynamic material flow analysis model presented by Müller, (2005) is adapted to data available on the Austrian building stock and the timber contained. With the help of this model, different scenarios on the development of the timber contained in the Austrian building stock and its input and output flows are developed and presented for the years 2012–2100. The standard scenario shows that (1) the volume of timber stored in the building stock will increase steadily from approx. 32M m3 to approx. 50M m3, and (2) the input of timber follows a wavelike behaviour within the frame of approx. 550,000 to approx. 750,000m3/a. Furthermore, (3) the output of timber will increase slightly during the first two thirds of the period considered and indicates a steeper increase for the remaining period, subsequently rising from approx. 350,000 m3 to approx. 650,000 m3 in 2100.