Life Cycle Management of wood in Switzerland: methods, tools and environmental decision support

The goal of this project is to identify environmental strategies for sustainable management of wood resources in Switzerland. In order to reach this goal, we will assess the current and future wood-based value chains by combining a dynamic (temporal) and spatial material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). The combination of MFA and LCA will enable a holistic overview of future resource uses and restrictions and the environmental impacts of the overall system, considering for carbon stocks and several effects such as climate change, human toxicity and biodiversity. The MFA-LCA tool will cover current and new technologies for production of chemicals from wood, pulp and paper, bioenergy, and building components. An advanced numerical building model will calculate the effects of wood application on the running energy use and to quantify related emissions of different building types, taking into account several factors such as thermal mass. Finally, a range of scenarios will be assessed to help deduct strategies for a sustainable management of wood-based value chains from an environmental point of view.

• Holger Wallbaum

  Full Professor/Research Group Leader, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Technology, Sustainable Building

  Holger is a Full Professor in sustainable building at the Division of Building Technology, research group Sustainable Building, and in the Area of advance Building Futures. Holger works within...