Chapter Seven Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings

CHAPTER SEVEN
USING WOOD PRODUCTS
TO REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING
James B. Wilson

Introduction the form of practice, policy, research and

education is needed to economically address the

G
lobal warming can be attributed to two reduction of greenhouse gases. Increased use of
factors, those that occur naturally and wood products represents a partial solution to
those that may be human-induced. this major concern.
The exact contribution of each has not been
determined, but it is evident that global warming Dramatic Increase of Greenhouse
has increased due to record greenhouse gases with Gases
the advent of the Industrial Revolution. If the
predictions of global warming effects come true, Measured levels of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide,
the way many of us live will be impacted. and methane in ice cores reveal that greenhouse
gases are at the highest level of concentration in
Greenhouse gases released to and trapped in the the past 650,000 years (Brook 2005). The last
atmosphere cause global warming (IPCC 2001). 200 years, with the onset of the Industrial
The greatest contributors are three gases that are Revolution, have brought a dramatic increase,
both naturally-occurring and human-induced: and can be attributed to human activity through
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and the combustion of fuels and related practices.
nitrous oxide (N2O). These three are released
into the atmosphere at various stages of any Throughout the past 650,000 years, the three
product’s or material’s life cycle. For a wood significant gases have all cycled periodically, but
product’s life cycle, the stages proceed from the have dramatically increased in the past 200 years.
planting or natural regeneration of trees, through Carbon dioxide, previously cycling from about
harvesting, product manufacturing, home 180 ppm (parts per million) to 300 ppm, has
construction, home use and maintenance, and increased to about 375 ppm. Nitrous oxide
end-life, where wood products are landfilled, periodically cycled from 200 and 280 ppb (parts
burned or recycled. Water vapor is also per billion), but now has increased to 320 ppb,
considered a greenhouse gas, but is not usually while methane, which previously cycled from
included in impact assessments because its 400 to 700 ppb, has increased the most — to
contribution is not fully understood. about 1750 ppb. The alarming trend of
increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases
This chapter examines wood products as a needs to be slowed or stopped if global warming
building material for home construction, and is to be abated (Flannery 2006).
how this appears to reduce greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere, and in turn, reduce global Formula for Wood Products’
warming. The ways that the use of wood can Performance
reduce greenhouse gases include storing carbon
in forest and wood products, by substituting Emissions of these three gases provide a useful,
wood products for fossil fuel-intensive products quantitative way to measure and compare the
such as steel and concrete, and by using wood as environmental performance of wood products
fuel instead of fossil fuels. If the dire predictions and other materials, and their relationship to
of global warming effects are true, bold action in global warming. Carbon dioxide is used as a
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Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings Chapter Seven

reference standard to determine the global of biomass “impact-neutral” on global warming

warming potential of a gas. The heat- because of the ability of forests to recycle the
absorbing ability of nitrous oxide and methane CO2 back into carbon in wood, and release
are compared to the CO2 equivalent. The oxygen to the atmosphere (EPA 2003).
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC 2001) uses a 100-year horizon to Wood products sequester carbon, but that
estimate the atmospheric reactivity or stability resulting decrease in carbon dioxide in the
of each of these gases; they can be used to atmosphere can be offset by the use of fossil
establish a Global Warming Potential Index fuels in the process. For the life cycle of wood
(GWPI) based on a CO2 equivalent which is products used as building materials, coal,
defined as: natural gas and oil are used to generate the
electricity that powers saws. Diesel fuels trucks
GWPI (kg CO2) = CO2 kg + (CH4 kg x 23) + transport lumber. Wood and bark are burned in
(N2O kg x 296) boilers to generate steam to dry wood. If
buildings are deconstructed, fuel is used to run
This formula can be applied to the life cycle of the equipment for the operation.
wood products and comparison materials, to
calculate whether or not, and by how much, a All of these factors, and many more, have to be
given material, process or system reduces, calculated to determine the total impact of
controls or eliminates the release of carbon using wood products, or any products, on
dioxide into the atmosphere, thus reducing the global warming.
magnitude of global warming potential.
Environmental Performance of
To reduce the concentration of CO2 within the Wood Products
atmosphere, three approaches can be taken in
consideration of the life cycle of wood products. The Consortium for Research on Renewable
The first, carbon sequestration, removes CO2 Industrial Materials (CORRIM) was formed in
from the atmosphere by storing, or 1996 by 15 research institutions to document the
sequestering, carbon in the trees, roots and soil environmental performance of all wood products
of a forest, and by sequestering carbon in wood (Bowyer et al., 2004, Lippke et al. 2004b, Perez-
products — in housing stock, recycled into Garcia et al., 2005a). Their study covered that
other products, and wood products in landfills. life cycle, from the forest resource through
manufacturing, product use, and eventual
The second is to use the formula for an energy product disposal or recycle.
accounting — evaluating the reduction of CO2
equivalent in the atmosphere as a result of the Life cycle inventories — all the inputs and
wise selection of a product or process. For outputs to produce, use and dispose or recycle a
example, the life cycle of one product or product— were tracked through each stage. The
material that emits less CO2 into the multitude of factors included fuel use (by type
atmosphere can be substituted for another. and amount), electricity use (and the fuels to
produce it), materials use, and CO2, CH4 and
The third is the use of biomass (wood, bark and N2O emissions, as well as many other types of
agricultural residue) as a fuel. Fossil-origin fuels emissions, to the air, water, and land.
such as oil, gasoline, coal, natural gas and
propane contribute CO2 to the atmosphere, and The first phase of this research effort covered
are non-renewable and non-sustainable. The resource use and manufacturing of structural
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wood building materials in the U.S. Pacific
considers CO2 emissions from the combustion Northwest and Southeast. Forest resource data

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Chapter Seven Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings

for a variety of management scenarios were A Novel Approach in Modeling

developed using inventory data, combined with Carbon Storage
growth and yield model simulations, and the
Landscape Management System (Oliver 1992) to When carbon is sequestered in forest and wood
simulate inventory conditions through time product pools, it is not being recycled or returned
(Johnson et al., 2005). Data for harvesting, to the atmosphere as CO2. Perez-Garcia et al.,
transportation of resources to mills, and product (2005b) modeled carbon storage in the CORRIM
manufacturing inputs and outputs were collected project looking at the carbon storage for forest and
by survey and analyzed (Johnson et al., 2005, wood product pools. They took a novel approach
Kline 2005, Milota et al., 2005, Puettmann and of looking at the carbon saved as a result of
Wilson 2005a,b, Wilson and Dancer differences in the CO2 equivalent emissions when
2005a,b,Wilson and Sakimoto 2005). substituting the use of wood products for non-
wood materials in the construction of a house.
Two U.S. building sites were selected to study
the environmental impact of a house designed To determine the amount of carbon stored in the
of various materials—a cold climate forest and wood product pools, carbon conversion
(Minneapolis) house designed to code for both factors from wood mass to carbon mass (Birdsey
wood- and steel-framed comparison, and a 1992, 1996) were used. As an approximation, dry
warm climate (Atlanta) house designed to code wood can be considered to be 50% carbon by
for both wood- and concrete-framed mass. The model includes all mass related to
comparison (Perez-Garcia et al., 2005a). storage in trees—the canopy, the stem (tree trunk
and bark), roots, litter and snags, and also
Life-cycle assessments were made of the various considers their rate of decay. Tracking carbon
material selections for the two houses. Input data from the forest pool to the product pool, they
for the study was provided by the Athena again used Birdsey (1992, 1996) for mass
Sustainable Materials Institute (ATHENA 2004) conversion factors.
for non-wood materials and Winistorfer et al.,
(2005) on use and maintenance for the two Perez-Garcia et al., (2005b) took the conservative
house designs. CORRIM (Bowyer et al., 2004) approach of converting the harvested wood into
provided life-cycle inventory data for forest only lumber, which has a conversion efficiency of
resources, softwood lumber, softwood plywood, wood-into-lumber of 50% and is considered a
oriented strandboard, composite I-joist, long-term use product with an assumed service
laminated veneer lumber, and glue-laminated life of 80 years, the assumed service life of a
(glulam) beams. The analyses included life-cycle house. The remaining 50% of wood in the
assessments comparing the use of various conversion went into pulp chips, sawdust,
construction materials (wood, steel, and shavings, and bark, and were all considered short-
concrete) in terms of such factors as global term products or wood fuel used for production
warming potential, air emissions that include the of energy. Short-term products were assumed to
greenhouse gases of CO2, CH4 and N2O, and decay over 10 years.
fuel use, among other impact factors (Perez-
Garcia et al., 2005a). Also included was a The Dynamic Effects of Various
tracking of carbon through the product life cycle Management Scenarios
from the forest through construction (Perez-
Garcia et al., 2005b). Perez-Garcia et al., (2005b), in their example of
carbon storage, examined three components:
storage in the forest, storage in wood products,
and the carbon difference from the use of fuels
when substituting wood for some of another

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Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings Chapter Seven

material such as concrete in construction of a Carbon storage in Forests vs. Wood Products
house. The primary goal of their study was to vs. Concrete Substitution
show the dynamic affects of various
management scenarios on carbon storage. To analyze the three components, a house
design was compared using either wood or
Carbon Storage in Forests concrete framing. Both have similar
construction features, such as a concrete
Figure 1 shows the first component of the foundation, a wood roof truss and sheathing
carbon storage, the carbon stored in the forest as system. One has concrete-framed exterior walls,
constructed of concrete
block, wood framing,
gypsum, and insulation.
In the second, wood was
substituted for concrete,
creating wood-framed
exterior walls of wood
studs, gypsum, and OSB
sheathing. Figure 2
depicts the comparison
of carbon storage for a
45-year harvesting cycle
for all three components
—the forest, wood
products and
substituting wood for
some concrete. (Perez-
Garcia et al., 2005b.)
This figure illustrates the
dramatic contribution to
carbon storage as a result
of substituting wood for
Figure 1 a result of alternative management scenarios: (a) concrete in the construction process.
Carbon storage “no-action” taken to negatively influence tree
in forest pool growth, whether natural or human-induced, Figure 3 illustrates that taking “no action” to
for 45-, 80-, and (b) harvesting cycles of 45, 80, and 120 manage a forest sequesters less carbon than
120-year harvest
cycles and no years with periodic thinning. As would be when considering the management scenario
action (NA) predicted, the no-action scenario stores the of a 45-year harvest cycle, producing wood
taken which
includes no greatest amount of carbon Of significance, the products, and substituting wood for concrete
harvesting, fires, greatest rate of carbon storage occurs in the first in a house construction’s exterior walls
or biological 50 years of growth and then the rate lessens over
damage and
should be time; although the graph shows carbon storage Carbon Storage in Houses
considered a increasing over time, from empirical data there
potential
maximum is little if any increase beyond 120 years (Lippke Individual houses
storage (adapted et al., 2004a). Carbon storage in these forest
from Perez- management scenarios does not include the A significant amount of wood products go into
Garcia et al.,
2005b). carbon stores of the harvested wood used in wood-framed house construction. For example,
buildings and to displace fossil intensive the CORRIM cold climate house has two
products which are huge sources of emissions. stories and a full basement, for a total of 192 m2

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Chapter Seven Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings

Figure 2
Carbon in the
forest and
product pools
with concrete
substitution for
the 45- year
harvest cycle
scenario (adapted
from Perez-
Garcia et al.,
2005b).

of floor space. Its construction used 12,993 kg To calculate the actual mass of wood in the two
of wood in the form of lumber, plywood, houses, the on-site waste loss and process wood
oriented strandboard (including site fuel were subtracted from the total wood use
construction waste), and the wood fuel to mass. Thus, the cold climate house contains
process these products. The warm climate 10,411 kg of wood, while the warm climate
house has a one-story concrete slab-on-grade house contains 7,078 kg. All wood products
design of 200 m2 of floor space, and its were considered to be lumber (Perez-Garcia
construction took 9,811 kg of wood (Meil et al., 2005b).
et al., 2004).

Figure 3

Total carbon
over time for
forest, products
and concrete
substitution
compared to the
no-action taken
management
scenario.

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Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings Chapter Seven

wood building products such as

lumber, plywood and oriented
strandboard (which excludes paper
products) placed in modern landfills
stay indefinitely with little or no decay,
thus continuing to store carbon (Skog
and Nicholson 1998).

The Global Warming Potential Index

can be used to compare the
environmental performance of various
building materials and house designs.
Table 1 gives the GWPI for the
CORRIM houses – a cold-climate
design, framed in either wood or steel,
Figure 4 and a warm-climate design, framed in either wood
Figure 4 shows the cold climate wood-framed or concrete. CO2 as a result of the combustion of
Cold climate
wood-framed house in terms of the mass of its building biomass fuels is considered impact-neutral for
house building components. Wood represents only 17% of the global warming potential and is not included in
components by total mass; concrete dominates at 63%. For the the GWPI calculation. The GWPI for the steel-
their mass.
steel-framed house, the wood component drops to framed design is 26% greater than the wood-
8.6% and the steel component raises to 12.6%; all framed design, and the concrete-framed design is
other components remain about the same. All 31% greater than the wood-framed design.
house designs use a variety of common materials
for their construction— wood, concrete, and steel, Housing stock
as well as several other materials. As with the cold
climate house, it’s typical that mass-wise, wood is Carbon in housing stock can be assessed in two
not the largest component in a house. Normally ways, the carbon flow into the stock on an annual
concrete is the largest. The advantage of wood is basis, also referred to as carbon flux, and the total
that it can store carbon, carbon that does not carbon pool or store for all housing stock in the
occur as CO2
in the
Figure 5
atmosphere for
U.S. housing
Annual Housing Starts (million)

at least the 80- starts for

year service life 1978-2005;
of the house, source
NAHB
and it (2006) based
continues to on U.S.
store carbon at Census
Bureau data.
the end of its
service life in
landfills when
disposed of or
in products
when recycled.
Literature
indicates that

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Chapter Seven Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings

Table 1
Release of greenhouse gases (GHG) and the
Global Warming Potential Index (GWPI) for materials, transportation,
product manufacturing and construction of both CORRIM house designs

GWPI
Cold-climate house by framing type contribution
Steel Wood Steel-Wood wood design
GHG kg kg kg % %
CO2 fossil 45,477 35,743 9,734 96.56
CO2 biomass 526 1,547 -1,021 “
N2O 0.227 0.211 0.016 0.17
CH4 54.5 52.7 1.8 3.27

GWPI 46,797 37,017 9,780 26.4

GWPI
Warm-climate house by framing type contribution
Concrete Wood Concrete-Wood wood design
GHG kg kg kg % %
CO2 fossil 27,150 20,570 6,580 96.29
CO2 biomass 1,291 1,388 -97 “
N2O 0.188 0.172 0.016 0.24
CH4 33.63 32.22 1.41 3.47

GWPI 27,979 21,362 6,617 31.0

Meil et al., 2004.
U.S. Not considered in this paper, but also of metric tons, which translates into approximately
importance, are remodeling applications and other 25 million metric tons of CO2 removed from the
uses of wood, especially those applications where atmosphere annually. The actual amount of
the high leverage use of wood occurs when
Figure 6
displacing steel or concrete.
Annual
carbon
For the first method, annual starts, Figure 5 storage in
illustrates new housing stock from 1978- U.S.
housing
2005, ranging from a minimum of 1.0 to a starts
maximum of 2.0 million based on 2006 1978-
2005.
U.S. Census Bureau data (NAHB 2006).
Using an average carbon storage mass per
house of 4,380 kg for the wood structure
(lumber framing, plywood sheathing,
oriented strandboard), Figure 6 shows that
the carbon flow for total housing starts
annually ranges from about 4.5 to 9 million
metric tons. The annual average over the
time period is a little less than 7 million

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Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings Chapter Seven

Table 2
Fuel use in the production of plywood for the
Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Southeast (SE) U.S.

Fuel PNW on-site energy SE on-site energy

MJ/m3 % MJ/m3 %
Biomass fuel (wood) 1,400 87.3 1,990 85.6
Natural gas 150 9.4 277 11.9
Liquid petroleum gas 20 1.3 35 1.5
Diesel 34 2.1 23 1.0

Wilson and Sakimoto, 2005.

Note: Energy values were determined for the fuels using their higher heating values (HHV) in units of
MJ/kg as follows: liquid petroleum gas 54.0, natural gas 54.4, diesel 44.0, and wood oven-dry 20.9.

carbon stored in a house is much larger where they substitute for fossil-fuel intensive
considering the mass of other standard wood products like steel, concrete and plastics, the
products including doors, molding and greater the carbon store, and the lesser the impact
millwork, cabinets, flooring and furniture. on global warming. Wood should be a material
Offsetting some of these carbon stores are those of choice for those wanting to build green.
associated with houses removed annually for
any reason. Wood Fuel Use Reduces Global
Warming
Calculations for the second method, total
carbon store for all housing stock, also referred The type of fuel used in the life cycle of a
to as the cumulative stock, are based on the product can influence its impact on global
2003 U.S. housing inventory estimate of 120.6 warming. The use of wood for fuel and its
million houses (HUD 2006). The service life release of CO2 emissions due to combustion is
of a house is assumed to be 80 years, with half seen by the U.S. Environmental Protection
the houses removed prior to 80 years and the Agency (EPA) to be impact-neutral when it
other half still in service. However, this is a comes to global warming because the growing
conservative estimate. There are about 10 of trees absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere,
million houses still in service that were built storing carbon in wood substance and releasing
prior to 1920, thus the actual service life is oxygen to the atmosphere (EPA 2003). Simply
likely greater. Half of all housing stock is put, the growing of trees offsets the combustion
removed as a result of zoning changes, road of wood fuels—essentially a closed loop.
widening and other factors not related to the Therefore, when wood fuel is substituted for
materials’ functional performance over time. fossil fuels, the contribution to global warming
Total carbon stored in the U.S. housing stock, is decreased.
based on 4,380 kg of carbon per house and
120.6 million houses in 2003, is 528 million Wood fuel generates a significant percentage of
metric tons. This amount is equivalent to the energy used in the production of wood
removing 1,939 million metric tons of CO2 building products such as lumber, plywood and
from the atmosphere. The flux of carbon would oriented strandboard. Table 2, from the
be the annual change in total carbon store. The CORRIM study on the life-cycle inventory of
more wood products used in houses, especially plywood production (Wilson and Sakimoto

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Chapter Seven Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings

Table 3
Fuel use in the life cycle of a wood building product from the
generation of the forest through product manufacturing;
includes all fuels and feedstock to produce and
deliver electricity, resin, wood and product

Pacific Northwest Production Southeast Production

Glulam Lumber LVL Plywood Glulam Lumber LVL Plywood OSB

Fuel Source % % % % % % % % %
Coal 3.9 2.5 4.2 3.6 13.7 10.2 13.9 12.0 11.4
Crude oil 9.9 9.7 15.1 13.4 14.7 9.7 13.2 13.4 16.9
Natural gas 36.5 39.1 33.3 24.7 32.2 8.0 35.0 27.2 34.2
Uranium 0.6 0.2 0.3 0.3 1.3 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0
Biomass (wood) 42.1 43.0 37.2 49.5 37.5 70.8 35.8 45.5 35.5
Hydropower 7.0 5.4 9.8 8.5 0.3 0.1 0.7 0.8 0.9
Other 0.0 0.1 7.0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2
Total energy
(MJ/m3) 5,367 3,705 4,684 3,638 6,244 3,492 6,156 5,649 11,145
Puettmann and Wilson, 2005a.

2005), documents that wood fuel comprises Wood fuel, or biomass energy, also represents a
about 86% of the total on-site manufacturing significant portion of the total cradle-to-gate
facility fuels, which also include natural gas, energy needs for the production of wood
liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and diesel. Wood products. Total energy is determined from the
fuel and natural gas are used to heat veneer planting or natural regeneration of tree seedlings
dryers, hot presses, and logs prior to peeling. (referred to as the cradle), to managing the
The LPG is used to operate fork lift trucks in forests, harvesting, transporting logs to the
the facility and the diesel is used to operate log production facility, and product manufacturing
haulers in the facility’s yard. Similar (referred to as the gate). The energy also includes
percentages of wood fuel use are seen for the the feedstock and fuel needed to produce and
production of oriented strandboard (Kline deliver the resins for the production of glulam,
2005) and Southeast lumber (Milota et al., laminated veneer lumber, plywood, and oriented
2005). For Pacific Northwest lumber, wood strandboard, and includes all the fuels to generate
fuel use is only about 65% of total fuel use on- electricity and fuels, and to deliver them to the
site (Milota et al., 2005). The wood used for production facility.
fuel makes use of low-valued bark and wood
residuals and does not compete with higher- Table 3 gives a breakdown of the cradle-to-gate
valued and higher-leveraged product substitutes. fuel uses for each of the wood products
Economics of the high cost of fossil fuel and produced in the Pacific Northwest and the
readily-available, low-valued wood fuels has Southeast (Puettmann and Wilson 2005a).
driven its current high use. Sufficient low- Biomass fuel represents a significant portion of
valued wood residuals remain to provide the energy needs, ranging from a low of 36%
additional fuel for heat and to generate for oriented strandboard (OSB) to a high of
electricity. 71% for Southeast lumber. The totals at the
bottom of Table 3 show the total energy needed
to produce a unit volume of product.
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Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings Chapter Seven

Table 4
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the cradle-to-gate life cycle of a wood building
product from the generation of the forest through product manufacturing

Pacific Northwest Production Southeast Production

Glulam Lumber LVL Plywood Glulam Lumber LVL Plywood OSB

Emission kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3
CO2 (biomass) 230 160 141 146 231 248 196 229 378
CO2 (fossil) 126 92 87 56 199 62 170 128 294

Puettmann and Wilson, 2005a.

Emissions of CO2 by fuel source, whether for Individuals, companies, universities, government
fossil or biomass sources, can also be tracked agencies, and legislators could all participate in
through the cradle-to-gate life cycle of a product. promoting the wise use of wood. For example:
Table 4 gives the CO2 emissions for the identifying and implementing forest
production of various wood products management practices that best meet a diverse set
(Puettmann and Wilson 2005a). CO2 emissions of objectives that include carbon storage, and
from fossil fuels range from 56 to 294 kg/m3 of adopting green building practices that highlight
product. The CO2 biomass emissions are given the superior environmental performance
as a separate category since biomass fuel characteristics of wood building products. Other
combustion is considered impact-neutral for actions could include standards and guidelines
global warming. Fossil fuel CO2 emissions for buildings that encourage the substitution of
represent an opportunity to reduce global wood products for fossil-fuel-intensive products
warming by substituting the use of wood fuel for like concrete, steel and some plastics, and
fossil fuel at the plant site for process energy and promoting the increased use of wood fuels.
for the generation or co-generation of electricity.
Implementing ways to increase the favorable
Ways to Foster Increased Use of environmental performance of wood by
Wood Products and Wood Fuel modifying practices and increasing its use can be
both good for the environment and cost-
Since the use of wood products and related practices effective. In addition to the already competitive
can reduce greenhouse gases, which in turn reduces position of wood products, other incentives can
global warming, it would be wise to implement be developed such as tax incentives for reducing
ways that foster their use in a manner that would be emissions, improving energy efficiencies, and
both economical and good for the environment. supporting renewable energy technologies.
A strategic position should be taken that develops a Another approach is to foster the trading of
pathway for new practices, policies, research, and carbon credits that consider the benefits of using
education in order to identify preferred forest long-lived wood products as a storehouse for
management practices, wood products, and solar energy. The wood products industry is
opportunities for further product development and recognized as having greenhouse gas assets and
improved building design. There are many can generally be considered as a seller of tradable
opportunities for increased efficiencies, and for CO2 allowances. For example, the newly-started
wood products and biofuel to replace fossil-fuel Chicago Climate Exchange trades credits at
intensive products and fossil fuels. about $4.00 per metric ton of CO2 (CCX 2006).

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Chapter Seven Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings

This trade price would be expected to increase forest or product until it is either combusted, or
with marketplace maturity, considering that the chemically or biologically decomposed,
more established European Climate Exchange returning CO2 to the atmosphere. A significant
currently trades credits at about $21.00 per amount of carbon is stored in the forest and in
metric ton of CO2 (ECX 2006). New non-wood wood products for a long period of time.
products or processes that emit large quantities of Carbon is stored in wood products in houses,
CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels could which remain in service, on average, for at least
buy credits from the wood products industry 80 years; at the end of its service life it is stored
which could be used to help finance process or in modern landfills for even greater duration.
product improvements.
Total carbon stored in wood products, or saved
Considerable data on the favorable when wood is substituted for a material such as
environmental performance of wood as a concrete in house framing, can be greater than
building material already exist through the total carbon sequestered in a forest where no
CORRIM (Bowyer et al., 2004) and the U.S. action is taken in terms of harvesting, fire or
LCI Database (NREL 2006) to use as a basis for biological damage.
promoting its use to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. To support a strategic policy shift we The production of wood building materials—
should embark upon an outreach education glulam, lumber, plywood, laminated veneer
program that promotes wood’s use to the lumber, and oriented strandboard —uses
consuming public, industry, government significant quantities of wood fuel to generate
agencies, builders, architects, engineers and process heat, and sometimes electricity. Using
legislators. wood fuel instead of fossil fuel also helps to
reduce global warming, since its CO2 emissions
Summary are considered to be impact -neutral for global
warming, whereas the combustion of fossil fuels
The use of wood products can reduce the is not.
amount of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, in the
atmosphere, which in turn may reduce global Wood presents opportunities for reducing
warming. Wood can accomplish this in several global warming by growing more trees,
ways: storing carbon in forest and wood managing the forest, producing wood products
products, as substitution for fossil-fuel intensive that are used in long-term applications, using
products like concrete and steel in housing more wood to build houses rather than fossil-
construction, and as biomass that replaces fossil intensive substitutes like steel and concrete, and
fuels to generate process heat and electricity. substituting the use of wood fuel for fossil fuels.
This can be good for the environment and still
When trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, be economical when considering the high price
carbon is stored in wood at about 50% of its of fossil fuels, tax incentives and carbon credits.
mass. Trees release oxygen back to the Policies and practices are needed to further
atmosphere. The carbon remains in wood in a promote the use of wood for this purpose.

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Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Science Findings Chapter Seven

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2004. Environmental impact estimator (EIE – Comnick. 2005. Life-cycle impacts of forest
software v3.0.1). Ottawa, Canada. resource activities in the Pacific Northwest and the
Southeast United States. Wood Fiber Science
Birdsey, R.A. 1992. Carbon storage in trees and 37(5):30-46.
forests. Pp. 23-40 in R. Neil Sampson and Dwight
Hair, eds. Forest and Global Change: Kline, D.E. 2005. Gate-to-gate life cycle
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