The Greenhouse Footprint of Wood Production in NSW
Fabiano Ximenes
Industry and Investment NSW
CCRSPI – February 2011
Weighing 15-year old Radiata tree
Presentation Outline
Background
Carbon in wood products / environmental benefits
Emissions: harvest and log transport, manufacture and transport markets
Net greenhouse impact: NSW
Implications
Life Cycle Assessment
Project background Climate Action Grant Project (2006-2010) Project Objectives
* Development of an energy budget for the main types of wood products used in the NSW building sector
* Quantification of the GHG impacts of waste disposal options for wood and paper products in NSW* Quantification of the rate and extent of decay of wood and paper products in landfills in NSW
Photosynthesis process
(www.butler.edu)
To produce 0.65 g C – 1 MJSolar power required (high quality sites)
Consumption of wood in dwellings in Australia
Softwoods
(M m3)
Hardwoods
(M m3)
Softwoods
(M m3)
Hardwoods
(M m3)Detached Houses 1.6 0.21 2.3 0.28Other dwellings 0.14 0.04 0.2 0.04Alt. and additions 1.1 0.48 1.5 0.46Total 2.84 0.73 4 0.78
2007 2018-22
Dwelling type
Carbon in wood products in dwellings
Source: BIS Shrapnel; Sawn Timber in Australia 2008-2022
Wood products in houses
Roof frames and trusses: 90% Softwood
Wall frames: 75% Softwood; 9% Steel
Flooring: 78% Particleboard; 6% Hardwood
Decking: 40% Hardwood, 45% Softwood
Window frames: 48% Aluminium; 27% Softwood; 12% Hardwood
Greenhouse footprint of wood
Carbon is sequestered in forests
Wood products: continued storage in service and in landfills
Use of processing residues: energy or feedstock for composite materials
Substitution benefits
Energy and GHG Budget
insert text here• Series of studies – sawmills, MDF and particleboard plants, wall and frame manufacturers
• Energy audit: including energy required during harvest, transport to the mill, manufacture and installation
• Renewable versus non-renewable energy
• Aim: use in building rating schemes (requiring change of focus) and Life Cycle Assessment
Energy consumption drivers Plant capacity and age Rate of plant utilisation Manufacturing process and level of integration Site layout Overall efficiency Degree of mechanization of materials handling Wood species, size and moisture Product type and mix Degree of finishing Air versus kiln-drying and climate Energy prices
Components of the assessment Harvest and log transport: Total fuel consumption of harvest machinery, log volumes transported,distances between the forest and processing mills and total fuel used inhaulage.
ManufactureVolumes of logs processed, electricty and diesel used in the mill, energyrequired for drying, production breakdown with tracking of total massand fate of residues produced, packaging and any other additionalsignificant inputs (e.g. glue in panel production – including shippingfrom overseas if required).
Transport to the marketDetailed information on distances to markets, average truck loads andfuel efficiencies of transport, as well as transport of residues.
Wood-processing facilities Processing
facility Wood type Volume
processed (‘000 m3)
Volume produced (‘000 m3)
Data source
Sawmill 1 Radiata pine 600-700 200-250 Site-specific Sawmill 2 Radiata pine 250-300 100-150 Site-specific Sawmill 3 Radiata pine 100-150 20-30 Site-specific
Sawmill 4 Primarily
blackbutt 80-100 15-20 Site-specific
Sawmill 5 Mixed hardwoods
10-15 4-6 Site-specific
Sawmill 6 Mixed hardwoods
< 5 1.3 Site-specific
MDF (medium-density fibreboard)
Radiata pine 400 260 Site-specific plus literature
Particleboard Radiata pine 300 220 Site-specific plus literature
Plywood mill Softwoods 50-60 25-30 Site-specific Truss and frame Radiata pine 2-2.5 2-2.5 Site-specific Total 1915 910
Greenhouse and energy footprint of wood production
Facility
Tonnes CO2-e/
tonne Tonnes CO2-e/ m3 GJ/m3 GJ/tonne
Particleboard 0.861 0.628 5.371 7.358
Plywood mill 0.810 0.583 4.517 6.273
MDF (medium-density fibreboard) 0.765 0.383 4.613 9.225
BB Sawmill 4 0.611 0.536 5.312 6.057
RP Sawmill 2 0.510 0.255 4.493 8.986
RP Sawmill 1 0.485 0.242 4.163 8.326
MHwd Sawmill 5 0.472 0.283 2.293 3.821
RP Sawmill 3 0.196 0.133 3.191 4.703
MHwd Sawmill 6 0.193 0.185 1.669 1.744
Truss and frame 0.179 0.093 1.200 2.317
Mean 0.545 0.359 3.958 6.277
Standard deviation 0.245 0.182 1.299 1.744
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
G J / t C O 2 / t G J / t C O 2 / t G J / t C O 2 / t G J / t C O 2 / t
S W D S H W D S E W P s F & T
T r a n s p o r t t o m a r k e t
M a n u f a c t u r e
H a r v e s t a n d t r a n s p o r t
Greenhouse and energy footprint of wood production – cont.
Softwoods
Mill 1 Mill 2 Mill 3 Mill 1 Mill 2 Mill 3
% CO2 % CO2 % CO2 % GJ % GJ % GJ
Electricity (includes kiln and boiler) 33.4 51.1 53.0 4.7 10.1 10.2
Transport of products 23.9 18.5 17.4 13.3 14.4 13.2
Transport of residues 16.0 5.7 11.4 8.9 4.4 8.6
Diesel-mill 11.0 2.3 3.5 6.3 1.8 2.6
Log transport 5.6 15.9 6.7 3.1 12.3 5.0
Log harvest 5.0 4.3 5.7 2.8 3.3 4.3
Transport of preservatives 2.5 0.3 0.3 1.4 0.3 0.2
Kiln - residues 2.0 1.3 1.3 58.2 52.4 54.1
Packaging 0.6 0.7 0.6 1.3 0.9 1.7
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
GHG and energy footprint of wood production
Hardwoods
Mill 1 Mill 2 Mill 3 Mill 1 Mill 2 Mill 3
% CO2 % CO2 % CO2 % GJ % GJ % GJ
Electricity 49.2 52.8 44.4 16.8 22.1 16.7
Transport of residues 17.6 1.1 3.3 23.7 1.7 4.8
Log harvest 13.9 16.4 18.6 18.6 27.0 27.4
Log transport 8.0 11.7 19.8 10.7 19.2 29.2
Transport of products 5.7 9.0 5.5 7.6 14.8 8.1
Diesel-mill 5.0 8.1 8.0 6.7 13.4 11.8
Packaging 0.4 1.0 0.4 2.0 1.8 2.0
Kiln 0.2 0.0 0.0 13.8 0.0 0.0
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
GHG and energy footprint of wood production
Activity
Particleboard MDF Plywood
% CO2 % GJ % CO2 % GJ % CO2 % GJ
Electricity 45.9 20.1 61.4 24.3 65.4 18.4
Kiln 42.3 68.9 27.3 65.7 0.7 44.0
Transport of products 2.6 4.5 2.5 3.9 10.9 12.1
Log transport 2.5 4.3 2.6 4.1 2.0 2.2
Log harvest 0.3 0.6 0.4 0.6 3.1 3.4
Diesel-mill 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.5 2.1 2.4
Transport of residues 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 6.0 6.6
Packaging 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.4
Other 5.9 0.5 5.3 0.4 9.6 10.6
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
GHG and energy footprint of wood production
Activity
Softwoods Hardwoods
% CO2 % GJ % CO2 % GJ
Electricity (includes kiln and boiler) 45.8 8.3 48.8 18.5
Transport of products 19.9 13.6 6.7 10.2
Transport of residues 11.1 7.3 7.3 10.1
Log transport 9.4 6.8 13.1 19.7
Diesel-mill 5.6 3.6 7.0 10.6
Log harvest 5.0 3.5 16.3 24.4
Kiln - residues 1.5 54.9 0.1 4.6
Transport of preservatives 1.0 0.6 0.0 0.0
Packaging 0.6 1.3 0.6 1.9
Total 100 100 100 100
GHG and energy footprint of wood production
3 9 3 3 1 1
1 4 5 1 2 8
1 5 3 0 1
1 6 3 3 9 3
1 2 8 2 7 8
S o f t w o o d s
H a r d w o o d s
P ly w o o d
M D F
P a r t ic le b o a r d
Greenhouse emissions from wood production in NSW in 2009 (t CO2-e)
-180
-130
-80
-30
20
70
120E
mis
sion
s
LTS
Em
issi
ons
LTS
Em
issi
ons
LTS
SWDS HWDS EWPs
kt C
O2-
e /
tGHG emissions and long-term storage
- 2 2 4 9 8 6 8
- 1 5 4 9 4 4
- 4 7 6 5 8 7
- 1 6 2 4 3 1
- 4 4 1 5 0S o f t w o o d s
H a r d w o o d s
P ly w o o d
M D F
P a r t i c le b o a r d
Long-term storage from wood production in NSW in 2009 (t CO2-e)
Summary GHG emissions from wood-processing facilities generally low
GHG emissions from EWPs typically higher than for sawmills
Energy footprint much greater than greenhouse footprint
Manufacture is typically the biggest contributor to overall GHG emissions
Electricity (drying) is the main contributor to GHG emissions in manufacture
Summary – cont. Long term carbon storage in wood products: easily outweighs
emissions
When LTS is factored in: annual production of wood products results in storage of 3 Mt CO2-e
Results highlight the importance of considering whole of life emissions and storage
Implications: Building rating schemes / Life Cycle Assessments
Acknowledgements
This project was financially assisted by the NSW Government, through its Climate Action Program.
The cooperation from all wood-processing facilities involved in the study was greatly appreciated.
Machins
Mford
Mford
ANZSICcode Industry ClassificationEmissions(Mt CO2-e)Change in emissions(%)1990 2007 2008 2007 to20081990 to2008
23-4 Wood, paper and printing 1.7 2.5 2.4 -3.5 43.4
Greenhouse benefit – Life cycle perspective
From the log dump to the rubbish dump
Forest Sawmill
62%
Dressing
47%
Wall frame
44%
In service
42%
Landfill
Australia’s GHG Emissions By Sector
Source: DCC 2008 Total emissions: 559 Mt CO2-e.
Emissions per capita: 1990: 32.2 t CO2-e
2005: 27.6 t CO2-e
Wood – environmental benefits Renewable resource
Carbon storage
Low energy-intensity in manufacture
Processing residues used to generate energy
Substitution benefits
Energy breakdown
Kiln-drying may account for 70-90% of the sawmilling energy
Process Energy usage (MJ/kg)
Planting/tending 1.0
Harvesting 0.61
Transport to mill 0.99
Sawmilling 1.1
Drying 8.5
Planning 0.29
Transport 0.73
Packaging 0.07
Total 13.3
Carbon Trading
Time to move on from the forest!
Substitution effect
Greenhouse gases emitted in the manufacture of building materials used in a range of construction components for a single storey house in Sydney, Australia
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Floor structure Floor covering Wall frame Roof frame Windows
Construction component
To
nn
es
; C
O2-e
qu
iv.
Steel sub-frame
Concrete slab
Timber sub-frame
Ceramic tiles
Hardwood T&G
Brick
Steel
Softwood
Steel
Timber
Aluminium
Timber
44 years in landfill
Carbon Storage in Australia's Forest Plantations, Wood Products in Service and in Landfill
Sink in Australian Plantation Forests (KP)
DCC 2008
Forest Residues
Sawlogs
Other commercial
logs 8% C
Board products
Pulp / Mulch
Bioenergy
Burnt – waste
Life Cycle of Wood Products