LCAs & Wood: Environmental Impacts

of Wood Throughout its Life Cycle

Maureen Puettmann, PhD

Director of Operations
CORRIM
www.corrim.org

Disclaimer: This presentation was developed by a third party and is not funded by
WoodWorks or the Softwood Lumber Board.
 OUTLINE

● LCA Reporting Framework

● Wood Product LCAs
● Biogenic Carbon
● Whole Building LCAs
● The Future of Wood as a Building Material
 W ELL ESTABLISHED INTERNATIONAL FRAMEW ORK
& HIERARCHY

Regional Data Development

for Forest Operations and
ISO standards
Wood Manufacturing 14040, 14044, 21930
processes PCR
North
American
Summarization and Wood PCR
LCI Integration of LCI and (ULE 2019)
LCIA consistent with
ISO, PCR and EPD
requirements

LCIA Synthesis and

LCA EPD aggregation
Impact Assessment based on (industry)
Report Product/Industry product data
required impacts indicators
required under the PCR & ISO
LCAs FROM W OOD PRODUCT TO W HOLE BUILDING

Wood Databases:
Product
USLCI
LCA
LCA Commons

Free $$$

EPD: Athena IE Tally

Product or EC3 SimaPro
Industry OpenLCA Gabi
One Click LCA

WBLCA
 WOOD USE / VOLUME OF WOOD

Total wood fiber (kg) in m3 wood product

1000

800
kg fiber / m3

Laminated Veneer
600

Lumber
Particleboard
400

Plywood
Lumber

I-Joist

CLT
200

0
 WOOD USE PER AREA

Wood fiber (kg) in 1 m2 wall assembly

100
kg of wood fiber in m2 of wall

Wood stud/CLT Plywood

CLT
80

60

40
Wood stud + Plywood
20
Steel stud + Plywood
0
 NET EMBODIED CARBON PER AREA

150

100

50
Kg CO2e / m2

0 C storage
Steel stud + ply Concrete block Wood stud + ply CLT GWP bio
-50 GWP fossil

-100

-150

-200
WHOLE BUILDING LCA
TNC STUDY PHASE I
 THE US LCA TEAM – PHASE I

atelierjones, LLC - Susan Jones, Ian Maples, & Olga Amigud

University of Washington - Cindy Chen, Francesca Pierobon, &
Indroneil Ganguly
USDA Forest Product Laboratory - Hongmei Gu & Shaobo Liang
CORRIM – Maureen Puettmann
TNC - Mark Wishnie (BTG), Rachel Pasternack, Guy Lomax (Exeter University), &
Barry Ulrich

Other contributors
WoodWorks - Scott Brenneman, Richard McLain, & Ethan Martin
Coldstream Consulting – James Salazar
USDA Forest Products Laboratory – Marco Lo Ricco
 METHODS - BUILDING LOCATIONS

* Boston,
Massachusetts
Seattle, Washington Functional Units: *
 1 m2
 Whole building

*
Building Total Floor
Stories Height Area Atlanta, Georgia
meters m2
8 26 9,476
12 48 14,214
18 71 21,321
 BUILDING DIFFERENCES

26 meters 48 meters 71 meters

9,476 m2 14,214 m2 21,321 m2
PNW

8 story 12 story 18 story

2:6 4:8 6:12

SE & NE
 METHODS – LCA SCOPE

● LCA is a cradle to gate (A1-A5) analysis of the materials effects of structure,

envelope, and interior walls or timber and concrete building designs.
○ A1-resource extraction,
○ A2-transportation of materials to product manufacturing,
○ A3-Product manufacturing,
○ A4 -transportation of materials to construction site, and
○ A5-construction energy use
○ C1-C4 – DID NOT INCLUDE EOL IN PHASE I
● Functional equivalent buildings: Mass Timber vs. Traditional Concrete
Structural Designs
● SimaPro software tool using CORRIM, Datasmart, and Ecoinvent databases
 PNW MATERIAL CONTRIBUTION TO GW P

Material Contribution to GWP MT reduction in GWP

43% - 8 story
44% - 12 story
30% - 18 story
33%
 SE MATERIAL CONTRIBUTION TO GW P

Material Contribution to GWP

Take-a-ways:
MT reduction in GWP
• Mass timber GWP influenced by
lumber production
40% - 8 story
59% 37% - 12 story
• PNW lumber GWP 61 kg CO2e/m 3
22% - 18 story
• SE lumber GWP 85 kg/CO2e/m3
 NE MATERIAL CONTRIBUTION TO GWP

MT reduction in GWP
Material Contribution to GWP

50% - 8 story
47% - 12 story
28% - 18 story

Take-a-ways:
• Gypsum board contributes 4-21%
of the GWP in the Whole Building
• While only representing 3-15% of
the mass in MT buildings
PNW – ASSEMBLYCONTRIBUTION:
BY MASS AND TO GWP

42%

42%

Mass Timber Concrete

 PNW – ASSEMBLY CONTRIBUTION:
BY MASS AND TO GWP

Take a way: 42%

1. Foundation type is significant in material use

2. 8 story 23%
3. 12 story 42%
4. 18 story 11%

Mat footing
Mass Timber Concrete
 PNW – ASSEMBLY CONTRIBUTION:
BY MASS AND TO GW P

Interior Wall by Mass

Concrete 65%
GWB 30% 42%

Other 5%

Take a way:
1. Interior wall 42% of building mass (18 story)
2. 30% the mass of the IW is gypsum WB
3. Type IV-A = 2-3 layers of GWB over 40-100%

Mass Timber Concrete

 SE – ASSEMBLY CONTRIBUTION:
BY MASS AND TO GW P

Interior Wall by Mass

Concrete 51%
Mass timber 17% 47%

GWB 29%
Other 4%

Take a way:
1. Interior wall 47% of building mass (18 story)
2. 29% of IW mass is GWB

Mass Timber Concrete

 PNW – ASSEMBLY CONTRIBUTION:
BY MASS AND TO GWP

100%
42%
17% Other
80%
19%
Rebar
60%
32%
Gypsum WB
40%

Mass Timber Concrete

20% Concrete
33%

0%
Interior Wall
 SE – ASSEMBLY CONTRIBUTION:
BY MASS AND TO GWP

100%
6% Other
16%
80% 42%
Rebar
17%
60% CLT

31% Gypsum WB
40%

Concrete
20%
29%

0%
Interior Wall
 SE LCIA 8 STORY BUILDINGS

Biomass from lumber production

SE WHOLE BUILDING EMBODIED CARBON

Embodied Carbon CO2e

8,000
6,000
GWP, biogenic
4,000
2,000
- GWP, fossil

(2,000)
(4,000) CO2 stored in building
(6,000) Net
(8,000)
(10,000) 8-story 12-story 18 -story
 THE FUTURE OF W OOD AS A BUILDING MATERIAL

● The opportunities for improvement in the use of wood as a building material are
endless
○ Material choices
○ Building designs
○ Building codes
○ Communication and education

● Wood-use opportunities for reducing global carbon emissions can be achieved by

○ Growing more trees & sustainable forest management
○ Local wood sources and products to reduce transportation impacts
○ Long service life, reuse, and recycling potential
○ Design for deconstruction
○ Replacing fossil-based materials with materials made from using renewable fuels
MAUREEN PUETTMANN
Director of Operations, CORRIM -
The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials

maureen@corrim.org

www.corrim.org