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Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review

Author

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  • Kamalakanta Sahoo

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA
    Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

  • Richard Bergman

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

  • Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

  • Hongmei Gu

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

  • Shaobo Liang

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

Abstract

Climate change, environmental degradation, and limited resources are motivations for sustainable forest management. Forests, the most abundant renewable resource on earth, used to make a wide variety of forest-based products for human consumption. To provide a scientific measure of a product’s sustainability and environmental performance, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used. This article provides a comprehensive review of environmental performances of forest-based products including traditional building products, emerging (mass-timber) building products and nanomaterials using attributional LCA. Across the supply chain, the product manufacturing life-cycle stage tends to have the largest environmental impacts. However, forest management activities and logistics tend to have the greatest economic impact. In addition, environmental trade-offs exist when regulating emissions as indicated by the latest traditional wood building product LCAs. Interpretation of these LCA results can guide new product development using biomaterials, future (mass) building systems and policy-making on mitigating climate change. Key challenges include handling of uncertainties in the supply chain and complex interactions of environment, material conversion, resource use for product production and quantifying the emissions released.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4722-:d:262241
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Iryna Zamula & Maryna Tanasiieva & Vitalii Travin & Vitalii Nitsenko & Tomas Balezentis & Dalia Streimikiene, 2020. "Assessment of the Profitability of Environmental Activities in Forestry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, April.
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    7. Zhongjia Chen & Hongmei Gu & Richard D. Bergman & Shaobo Liang, 2020. "Comparative Life-Cycle Assessment of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building with an Equivalent Reinforced Concrete Alternative Using the Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Mariana Hassegawa & Jo Van Brusselen & Mathias Cramm & Pieter Johannes Verkerk, 2022. "Wood-Based Products in the Circular Bioeconomy: Status and Opportunities towards Environmental Sustainability," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, November.
    9. Xuyao Zhang & Weimin Zhang & Dayu Xu, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Complex Forestry Enterprise: A Case Study of a Forest–Fiberboard Integrated Enterprise," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
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