IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v126y2017icp141-152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resource efficiency of multifunctional wood cascade chains using LCA and exergy analysis, exemplified by a case study for Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Risse, Michael
  • Weber-Blaschke, Gabriele
  • Richter, Klaus

Abstract

Driven by the scarcity of non-renewable resources and a growing environmental awareness in Germany, the demand for wood could likely exceed its sustainable supply within the next decades. In response to this development, cascading, i. e. the sequential use of one unit of material in material applications with energy generation as final step, is expected to enhance the resource efficiency of wood utilization. In this context, the objective of this paper is to determine the resource consumption and resource efficiency of wood cascading compared to the use of primary wood to provide the same multiple functions. To account for resource use and calculate the efficiency, exergy analysis was applied. The exergy of a material is the potential work that can be obtained from the material in the natural environment. By using Exergy Flow Analysis, key drivers of exergy dissipation and thus hotspots for improvement were identified. Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment was applied to determine resource use and the resource efficiency at a life cycle level. The results indicate that cascading leads to less resource consumption compared to the use of primary wood, indicated by higher resource efficiency (46% vs. 21%) at life cycle level. The main resource saving potential through cascading arises from avoiding primary production in forestry systems. In conclusion, cascading reduces the primary resource extraction and makes wood utilization highly efficient. Exergy analysis proved to be a viable method to study the resource use of multifunctional cascading systems, although showing some limitations with respect to land use accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Risse, Michael & Weber-Blaschke, Gabriele & Richter, Klaus, 2017. "Resource efficiency of multifunctional wood cascade chains using LCA and exergy analysis, exemplified by a case study for Germany," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 141-152.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:126:y:2017:i:c:p:141-152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.07.045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344917302380
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.07.045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pawelzik, P. & Carus, M. & Hotchkiss, J. & Narayan, R. & Selke, S. & Wellisch, M. & Weiss, M. & Wicke, B. & Patel, M.K., 2013. "Critical aspects in the life cycle assessment (LCA) of bio-based materials – Reviewing methodologies and deriving recommendations," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 211-228.
    2. Huysveld, Sophie & De Meester, Steven & Van linden, Veerle & Muylle, Hilde & Peiren, Nico & Lauwers, Ludwig & Dewulf, Jo, 2015. "Cumulative Overall Resource Efficiency Assessment (COREA) for comparing bio-based products with their fossil-derived counterparts," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 113-127.
    3. Nhu, Trang T. & Le, Quan H. & Heide, Peter ter & Bosma, Roel & Sorgeloos, Patrick & Dewulf, Jo & Schaubroeck, Thomas, 2016. "Inferred equations for predicting cumulative exergy extraction throughout cradle-to-gate life cycles of Pangasius feeds and intensive Pangasius grow-out farms in Vietnam," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 42-49.
    4. Huysman, Sofie & Sala, Serenella & Mancini, Lucia & Ardente, Fulvio & Alvarenga, Rodrigo A.F. & De Meester, Steven & Mathieux, Fabrice & Dewulf, Jo, 2015. "Toward a systematized framework for resource efficiency indicators," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 68-76.
    5. Talens Peiró, L. & Villalba Méndez, G. & Sciubba, E. & Gabarrell i Durany, X., 2010. "Extended exergy accounting applied to biodiesel production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 2861-2869.
    6. Council on Food Agricultural and Resource Economics, C-FARE, "undated". "2013 Annual Report," C-FARE Reports 260836, Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE).
    7. Taelman, Sue Ellen & De Meester, Steven & Schaubroeck, Thomas & Sakshaug, Egil & Alvarenga, Rodrigo A.F. & Dewulf, Jo, 2014. "Accounting for the occupation of the marine environment as a natural resource in life cycle assessment: An exergy based approach," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-10.
    8. Sathre, Roger & Gustavsson, Leif, 2006. "Energy and carbon balances of wood cascade chains," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 332-355.
    9. Arnold, Karin & von Geibler, Justus & Bienge, Katrin & Stachura, Caroline & Borbonus, Sylvia & Kristof, Kora, 2009. "Kaskadennutzung von nachwachsenden Rohstoffen: ein Konzept zur Verbesserung der Rohstoffeffizienz und Optimierung der Landnutzung," Wuppertal Papers 180, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.
    10. Robert U. Ayres & Leslie W. Ayres, 1999. "Accounting for Resources, 2," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1621, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Huysveld, Sophie & De Meester, Steven & Van linden, Veerle & Muylle, Hilde & Peiren, Nico & Lauwers, Ludwig & Dewulf, Jo, 2015. "Cumulative Overall Resource Efficiency Assessment (COREA) for comparing bio-based products with their fossil-derived counterparts," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 113-127.
    2. Vargas-Parra, M. Violeta & Villalba, Gara & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2013. "Applying exergy analysis to rainwater harvesting systems to assess resource efficiency," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 50-59.
    3. Bruno Bonizzi & Christina Laskaridis & Jan Toporowski, 2015. "EU Development Policy And The Promotion Of The Financial Sector," Working papers wpaper120, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    4. Jingyi Liu & Feng Gui & Qian Zhou & Huiwen Cai & Kaida Xu & Sheng Zhao, 2023. "Carbon Footprint of a Large Yellow Croaker Mariculture Models Based on Life-Cycle Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Colombo, Emanuela & Rocco, Matteo V. & Toro, Claudia & Sciubba, Enrico, 2015. "An exergy-based approach to the joint economic and environmental impact assessment of possible photovoltaic scenarios: A case study at a regional level in Italy," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 318(C), pages 64-74.
    6. Hu, Nan & Zheng, Bing, 2023. "Natural resources, education, and green economic development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    7. Bertram C. I. Okpokwasili, Ph.D, 2015. "Income Inequality: Do Different Inequality Measures Show Different Impacts on Economic Growth, at the State Level? An Analysis of the State of New Jersey," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 5(12), pages 40-55, December.
    8. Renata Dagiliūtė & Vaiva Kazanavičiūtė, 2025. "Climate Change Mitigation vs. Renewable Energy Consumption and Biomass Demand," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Seckin, Candeniz & Bayulken, Ahmet R., 2013. "Extended Exergy Accounting (EEA) analysis of municipal wastewater treatment – Determination of environmental remediation cost for municipal wastewater," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 55-64.
    10. Kaehler Juergen & Weber Christoph S. & Aref Haider Salahal-Din, 2014. "The Iraqi Stock Market: Development and Determinants," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 151-175, August.
    11. Blanco-Marigorta, A.M. & Suárez-Medina, J. & Vera-Castellano, A., 2013. "Exergetic analysis of a biodiesel production process from Jatropha curcas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 218-225.
    12. Rocco, M.V. & Colombo, E. & Sciubba, E., 2014. "Advances in exergy analysis: a novel assessment of the Extended Exergy Accounting method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1405-1420.
    13. Kareem, Fatima Olanike & Brümmer, Bernhard & Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada, 2015. "The Implication of European Union’s Food Regulations on Developing Countries: Food Safety Standards, Entry Price System and Africa’s Export," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 198719, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    14. Vasily Astrov & Vladimir Gligorov & Peter Havlik & Olga Pindyuk & Sandor Richter & Miklós Somai, 2014. "Monthly Report No. 1/2014," wiiw Monthly Reports 2014-01, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    15. Cambero, Claudia & Hans Alexandre, Mariane & Sowlati, Taraneh, 2015. "Life cycle greenhouse gas analysis of bioenergy generation alternatives using forest and wood residues in remote locations: A case study in British Columbia, Canada," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 59-72.
    16. Diaz-Mendez, S.E. & Sierra-Grajeda, J.M.T. & Hernandez-Guerrero, A. & Rodriguez-Lelis, J.M., 2013. "Entropy generation as an environmental impact indicator and a sample application to freshwater ecosystems eutrophication," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 234-239.
    17. Nogueira, Luiz A.H., 2011. "Does biodiesel make sense?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 3659-3666.
    18. Geyer, R. & Davis, J. & Ley, J. & He, J. & Clift, R. & Kwan, A. & Sansom, M. & Jackson, T., 2007. "Time-dependent material flow analysis of iron and steel in the UK," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 101-117.
    19. Miao, Chenglin & Fang, Debin & Sun, Liyan & Luo, Qiaoling, 2017. "Natural resources utilization efficiency under the influence of green technological innovation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 153-161.
    20. Knauf, Marcus, 2015. "An Analysis of Wood Market Balance Modeling in Germany," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 319-326.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:recore:v:126:y:2017:i:c:p:141-152. 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: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    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.