Carbon Stock In Wood Products Research Articles

Estimation of carbon stocks in wood products for private building companies

Wood products function as carbon storage even after being harvested from forests. This has garnered attention in relevance to climate change countermeasures. In the progress of efforts toward climate change mitigation by private companies, the effective use of wood products has been an important measure. However, the methodology for accounting carbon stocks in wood products for private companies has not been established. Therefore, this study investigated methods for estimating carbon stocks in wood products used in wooden houses built by private enterprises, targeting a major company in the Japanese building industry. The results indicated that both the direct inventory method and flux data method (FDM) were applicable for estimating the carbon stocks. These two methods use data that can be obtained from many other building companies, thus, indicating high versatility. The log-normal, Weibull, normal, and logistic distributions, in descending order, proved to be suitable lifetime functions of wooden houses under the FDM, with a half-life of 66–101 years. It is important to continuously acquire time-series data on the floor areas of both newly built and existing houses and the amount of wood products used to improve the accuracy of estimates and explore future predictions.

Carbon costs and benefits of France\u2019s biomass energy production targets

BackgroundConcern about climate change has motivated France to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel by setting targets for increased biomass-based renewable energy production. This study quantifies the carbon costs and benefits for the French forestry sector in meeting these targets. A forest growth and harvest simulator was developed for French forests using recent forest inventory data, and the wood-use chain was reconstructed from national wood product statistics. We then projected wood production, bioenergy production, and carbon balance for three realistic intensification scenarios and a business-as-usual scenario. These intensification scenarios targeted either overstocked, harvest-delayed or currently actively managed stands.ResultsAll three intensification strategies produced 11.6–12.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent per year of wood-based energy by 2026, which corresponds to the target assigned to French wood-energy to meet the EU 2020 renewable energy target. Sustaining this level past 2026 will be challenging, let alone further increasing it. Although energy production targets can be reached, the management intensification required will degrade the near-term carbon balance of the forestry sector, compared to continuing present-day management. Even for the best-performing intensification strategy, i.e., reducing the harvest diameter of actively managed stands, the carbon benefits would only become apparent after 2040. The carbon balance of a strategy putting abandoned forests back into production would only break even by 2055; the carbon balance from increasing thinning in managed but untended stands would not break even within the studied time periods, i.e. 2015–2045 and 2046–2100. Owing to the temporal dynamics in the components of the carbon balance, i.e., the biomass stock in the forest, the carbon stock in wood products, and substitution benefits, the merit order of the examined strategies varies over time.ConclusionsNo single solution was found to improve the carbon balance of the forestry sector by 2040 in a way that also met energy targets. We therefore searched for the intensification scenario that produces energy at the lowest carbon cost. Reducing rotation time of actively managed stands is slightly more efficient than targeting harvest-delayed stands, but in both cases, each unit of energy produced has a carbon cost that only turns into a benefit between 2060 and 2080.

Effect of cascade use on the carbon balance of the German and European wood sectors

Wood product models have often been used to estimate the carbon dynamics of wood products and evaluate their effects on the mitigation of climate change. Their increasing complexity allows for advanced analysis of industrial product conversion efficiency, product lifespan and recycling rate, although data availability for such analyses is very often problematic. In spite of the widely recognised importance of cascade chains from one wood product to another, some wood product models represent them with recycling parameters that allocate part of the recycled wood to the same product category. Consequently, the infinite repetition of these loops overestimates carbon stock.This study analyses and benchmarks the effect on carbon stock in wood products for the German wood sector, when infinite recycling loops in wood product models are replaced by cascade chains. Different scenarios were simulated to analyse the effect of enhanced cascade chains. We estimated the carbon stock in the German wood product sector at 22.17 ± 3.82 t C per hectare of forest in the most realistic current scenario, an amount that is overestimated by 15.8% if infinite recycling loops were used instead. The deviation on the estimated carbon stock was derived from the uncertainty of allocation parameters. Then we estimated the carbon stock in the European wood product sector (EU-28) at 1231.76 t C, representing 9.16 t C per hectare of forest. The carbon stock in German wood product sector estimated for the high quality wood benchmark scenario (103.17 t C per hectare of forest) indicated that strategies to promote the development of new product designs and material technologies to enhance cascading may have the highest impact on carbon stock in the wood product sector. Studies aiming at reducing uncertainty on results are urgent, because the use of wood products is becoming an important strategy of the international community to mitigate climate change. At the same time, a correct representation of cascade use in wood product models is important because cascade practices are being promoted by governments and will probably become more common in the near future.

The effect of increasing lifespan and recycling rate on carbon storage in wood products from theoretical model to application for the European wood sector

The use of wood products is often promoted as a climate change mitigation option to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. In previous literature, we identified longevity and recycling rate as two determining factors that influence the carbon stock in wood products, but no studies have predicted the effect of improved wood use on carbon storage over time. In this study, we aimed at evaluating changes in the lifespan and the recycling rate as two options for enhancing carbon stock in wood products for different time horizons. We first explored the behaviour over time of both factors in a theoretical simulation, and then calculated their effect for the European wood sector of the future. The theoretical simulation shows that the carbon stock in wood products increases linearly when increasing the average lifespan of wood products and exponentially when improving the recycling rate. The emissions savings under the current use of wood products in Europe in 2030 were estimated at 57.65 Mt carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. This amount could be increased 5 Mt CO2 if average lifespan increased 19.54 % or if recycling rate increased 20.92 % in 2017. However, the combination of both strategies could increase the emissions saving almost 5 Mt CO2 more by 2030. Incrementing recycling rate of paper and paperboard is the best short-term strategy (2030) to reduce emissions, but elongating average lifespan of wood-based panels is a better strategy for longer term periods (2046).

Modelling carbon stocks and fluxes in the wood product sector: a comparative review.

In addition to forest ecosystems, wood products are carbon pools that can be strategically managed to mitigate climate change. Wood product models (WPMs) simulating the carbon balance of wood production, use and end of life can complement forest growth models to evaluate the mitigation potential of the forest sector as a whole. WPMs can be used to compare scenarios of product use and explore mitigation strategies. A considerable number of WPMs have been developed in the last three decades, but there is no review available analysing their functionality and performance. This study analyses and compares 41 WPMs. One surprising initial result was that we discovered the erroneous implementation of a few concepts and assumptions in some of the models. We further described and compared the models using six model characteristics (bucking allocation, industrial processes, carbon pools, product removal, recycling and substitution effects) and three model‐use characteristics (system boundaries, model initialization and evaluation of results). Using a set of indicators based on the model characteristics, we classified models using a hierarchical clustering technique and differentiated them according to their increasing degrees of complexity and varying levels of user support. For purposes of simulating carbon stock in wood products, models with a simple structure may be sufficient, but to compare climate change mitigation options, complex models are needed. The number of models has increased substantially over the last ten years, introducing more diversity and accuracy. Calculation of substitution effects and recycling has also become more prominent. However, the lack of data is still an important constraint for a more realistic estimation of carbon stocks and fluxes. Therefore, if the sector wants to demonstrate the environmental quality of its products, it should make it a priority to provide reliable life cycle inventory data, particularly regarding aspects of time and location.

Carbon stock in wood products: implications for carbon accounting at national and local scale in Italy

The international climate change adaptation strategies provide the opportunity to account for carbon sinks in forests through the Kyoto Protocol. Globally, forests and wood products are considered important carbon sinks. Harvested Wood Products (HWPs) are receiving growing attention, considering their potentialities to be included in national Greenhouse Gas Inventories with practical and economic implications for both carbon accounting and timber market. In Italy, understanding the contribution of HWPs to the total carbon budget may have a positive role to further improve forest management and planning approaches, as well as the timber production (i.e. wood-energy chain), specifically oriented to the climate change mitigation and ecosystem adaptation. This work aims to deeper assess the main barriers and drivers for the HWPs implementation within the carbon accounting framework in Italy. After a preliminary survey on how climate adaptation policies are currently implemented at global and national scale, this work specifically addresses the most important opportunities to include the HWPs in carbon accounting for the forestry sector at landscape scales. Finally, this work mainly outlines the following challenges for including HWPs in forest management and planning processes at local scale: (i) improving the assessment of forest carbon budget in different pools through using proper simulation tools, and environmental impact analysis; (ii) further developing robust policies and regulations that make the carbon accounting approach more explicit and economically relevant; and (iii) implementing adaptive approaches to effectively consider climate change mitigation strategies in decision-making processes at landscape scale.

Increasing wood mobilization through Sustainable Forest Management in protected areas of Italy

Normal 0 14 false false false IT JA X-NONE The European Community has long recognized the need to further promote renewable energy. Under the overall objective to support and enhance sustainable management, the promotion of the use of forest biomass could help to mitigate climate change by substituting fossil fuel, increasing carbon stock in wood products and improve energy self-sufficiency enhancing security of supply and providing job opportunities in rural areas. To what extent Italian forests can satisfy an increased wood demand, without compromising the others Ecosystem Services (ESs) remains an open question. Our aim was to assess the potential supply of woody biomass from the network of protected areas in Italy considering the felling constraints. We estimated the theoretical annual potential increment from forest inventory data performing a correlation with the Corine Land Cover 2006 at the IV level with a 1:100,000 resolution elaborated in a GIS (Geographic Information System) environment. The average annual potential increment at national level available for felling was 4.4 m 3 ha -1 . Within the network of protected areas (EUAP and Natura 2000), the average annual increment, available to felling, was 0.98 m 3 ha -1 , respectively, 0.81 m 3 ha -1 from coppice and 1.14 m 3 ha -1 from non-coppice forests. Based on data obtained from this study, the availability of wood materials could be increased of almost 20 % at national level by pursuing an active management within the network of protected areas. In Italy, the actual level of resource utilization is rather low; increasing felling together with the implementation of an active management within protected areas could allow satisfying, theoretically, the Italian wood consumption. /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Tabella normale; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;}

The Wood, the Trees, or the Forest? Carbon in Trees in Tasmanian State Forest: A Response to Comments

Recently we presented data on the amount and distribution of standing-tree carbon on 1.5 M ha of Tasmanian State forest (Moroni et al. 2010) and deduced that the concept of carbon-carrying capacity (CCC) could usefully be applied at the site level but not at the landscape level in disturbance-driven wet eucalypt forest ecosystems. The recent response in this journal of Dean (2011) perpetuates the confusion between site-level CCC and attainable landscape-level C stocks, but mostly comprises material not at all relevant to the data and concepts presented by Moroni et al. (2010). Here, we rebut the response of Dean (2011) to the substance of our original analysis, in regard to the CCC of forests subject to disturbance, processes of ecological succession with and without disturbance, the use of Forest Class inventory datasets, and old-growth forest as a reference state. We respond to the wider issues raised by Dean (2011) by noting that the carbon footprint of active forest management needs to consider not the long-term landscape-average C stocks attainable under natural or anthropogenic disturbance regimes, but also the carbon stock in wood products, and furthermore the carbon emissions mitigation resulting from the use of timber in place of resources with higher greenhouse-gas emissions.

Stand level analysis on the effects of management and climate change on the growth and timber yield with implications on carbon stocks in boreal forest ecosystem: a model based approach

The main aim of this study was to investigate based on process-based ecosystem model simulations how management and climate change affect the growth, timber yield and carbon stocks in boreal forest ecosystem (Papers I-II). In addition, it was studied how the management affects under varying climate the possibility to meet multi-purpose demands in regard to timber production, carbon sequestration and biodiversity (in terms of dead wood) based on a stochastic multi-criteria analysis (Paper IV). Simulations were carried out in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst. L.) and silver birch (Betula pendula) stands growing in the southern and northern Finland. In addition to current climate, two different climate change scenarios and eight different stand treatment programmes (i.e. one unthinned and seven thinning regimes) were applied in simulations over 100 years. The stand treatment programmes differed from each other in the sense that the mean stocking varied in the stand over the rotation. The simulation results were also used as data for a multi-criteria analysis, in which expected utility was calculated with an additive utility model (Paper IV). In this context, it was also utilized a wood products model developed (Paper III), to estimate carbon stocks in wood products. The model based analyses indicated that in unthinned stands, the growth and carbon stock was on an average always higher compared to thinned stands regardless of tree species, sites and climate scenarios compared (Papers I-II). However, in regard to thinning regimes, the one in which the mean stocking was kept an average higher over a rotation compared to the current thinning guidelines, had also a higher growth and timber yield (Paper I). This increased also the mean carbon stock both in the forest ecosystem and in the harvested timber compared to the current thinning guidelines (Paper II). The climate change (regardless of scenarios) in itself enhanced growth, timber yield and carbon stocks in relative terms more in the north than in the south regardless of tree species. The utility was also maximized, regardless of site, tree species and climate scenario applied, by leaving the stand unthinned over a rotation or alternatively by keeping the stocking level higher (e.g. 30% higher) over the simulation compared to the current thinning guidelines (Paper IV). When accurate weights for criteria of timber production, carbon sequestration and dead wood were used to reduce uncertainty, expected utility did not change noticeably. As a conclusion, the selection of stand treatment programme was found to have an important role, regardless of tree species, sites and climate scenarios, on the timber production, but also on other benefits such as carbon sequestration and amount of dead wood in the forest ecosystem.

Carbon accounting for forest harvesting and wood products: review and evaluation of different approaches

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, more than 160 countries are required to report their national greenhouse gas inventories. To help countries meet this requirement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prepared guidelines for inventorying greenhouse gases. These guidelines are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are based on the best scientific knowledge. In May 1998, in Dakar, Senegal, an IPCC expert meeting reviewed and evaluated three approaches for accounting for carbon from forest harvesting and wood products. They are the atmospheric-flow, stock-change and production approaches. In the future, governments may decide to include one of the three approaches in the land-use change and forestry module of the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Here, we demonstrate how such approaches can be evaluated using technical, scientific and policy criteria. The purpose of this evaluation is to help policy-makers potentially choose an approach for the IPCC Guidelines. This paper presents the framework of the evaluation by separating the technical and policy issues of each approach, but it does not make policy recommendations. On technical and scientific grounds, a group of experts found that the three approaches gave similar results at a global level. Data availability is not a critical factor in choosing between the approaches. However, at the national level, the approaches can differ significantly, for example, in terms of their system boundaries. Depending on technical features of each approach, credits and debits for CO 2 flows or changes in carbon stock in wood products are accounted for differently among countries that produce or consume wood. This leads to differing incentives for conserving or enhancing carbon stocks in forests, the use of imported wood products and woodfuels and waste minimisation strategies. Each approach has different implications.