Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy
Evaluating the climate change mitigation potential of the forest sector requires a holistic approach based on forest carbon (C) sequestration, C storage in harvested wood products (HWP) and substitution on markets. High uncertainty is associated with substitution factors, that express avoided fossil...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24003972 |
| _version_ | 1797213405116891136 |
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| author | Thomas Cardinal Charles Alexandre Thomas Elliot Hamed Kouchaki-Penchah Annie Levasseur |
| author_facet | Thomas Cardinal Charles Alexandre Thomas Elliot Hamed Kouchaki-Penchah Annie Levasseur |
| author_sort | Thomas Cardinal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Evaluating the climate change mitigation potential of the forest sector requires a holistic approach based on forest carbon (C) sequestration, C storage in harvested wood products (HWP) and substitution on markets. High uncertainty is associated with substitution factors, that express avoided fossil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of forest-based products in replacement of GHG-intensive materials and fossil fuels. Few studies have focused on the development of substitution factors in Canada, resulting in the use of unrepresentative generic data. Here, we provide a framework to reduce uncertainties related to substitution factors for primary wood products in a Canadian context. A life cycle assessment framework is used to quantify fossil GHG emissions for a baseline and a wood-intensive scenario. For solid product substitution, we focused on the construction sector and analyzed a range of innovative wood buildings with steel and reinforced concrete as alternative materials. We found non-weighted averages of 0.80 tC/tC for sawnwood and 0.81 tC/tC for panels. For energy substitution, we analyzed cases with different specifications on biomass product, facility type and alternative fossil fuel source in non-residential heat production and biofuel transportation sectors. We found a non-weighted average of 0.80 tC/tC for non-residential heat production and 0.51 tC/tC for biofuel transportation, that can be interpreted as 0.91 tC/tC for heavy fuel oil, 0.69 tC/tC for light fuel oil and 0.68 tC/tC for natural gas substitution. These results provide a benchmark for substitution factors in Canada, to help guide forest management strategies for climate change mitigation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:57:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba079c76b3db44f7b2cdc81571f5a045 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:57:45Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba079c76b3db44f7b2cdc81571f5a0452024-04-12T04:44:59ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2024-03-01160111940Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergyThomas Cardinal0Charles Alexandre1Thomas Elliot2Hamed Kouchaki-Penchah3Annie Levasseur4École de technologie supérieure, Department of Construction Engineering, Montréal, CanadaÉcole de technologie supérieure, Department of Construction Engineering, Montréal, CanadaÉcole de technologie supérieure, Department of Construction Engineering, Montréal, Canada; Aalborg University, Department of Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg, DenmarkÉcole de technologie supérieure, Department of Construction Engineering, Montréal, Canada; HEC-Montréal, Department of Decision Science, Montréal, CanadaÉcole de technologie supérieure, Department of Construction Engineering, Montréal, Canada; Corresponding author.Evaluating the climate change mitigation potential of the forest sector requires a holistic approach based on forest carbon (C) sequestration, C storage in harvested wood products (HWP) and substitution on markets. High uncertainty is associated with substitution factors, that express avoided fossil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of forest-based products in replacement of GHG-intensive materials and fossil fuels. Few studies have focused on the development of substitution factors in Canada, resulting in the use of unrepresentative generic data. Here, we provide a framework to reduce uncertainties related to substitution factors for primary wood products in a Canadian context. A life cycle assessment framework is used to quantify fossil GHG emissions for a baseline and a wood-intensive scenario. For solid product substitution, we focused on the construction sector and analyzed a range of innovative wood buildings with steel and reinforced concrete as alternative materials. We found non-weighted averages of 0.80 tC/tC for sawnwood and 0.81 tC/tC for panels. For energy substitution, we analyzed cases with different specifications on biomass product, facility type and alternative fossil fuel source in non-residential heat production and biofuel transportation sectors. We found a non-weighted average of 0.80 tC/tC for non-residential heat production and 0.51 tC/tC for biofuel transportation, that can be interpreted as 0.91 tC/tC for heavy fuel oil, 0.69 tC/tC for light fuel oil and 0.68 tC/tC for natural gas substitution. These results provide a benchmark for substitution factors in Canada, to help guide forest management strategies for climate change mitigation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24003972Life cycle assessmentForest managementBioeconomyGreenhouse gas emissionsCarbon sequestrationHarvested wood products |
| spellingShingle | Thomas Cardinal Charles Alexandre Thomas Elliot Hamed Kouchaki-Penchah Annie Levasseur Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy Ecological Indicators Life cycle assessment Forest management Bioeconomy Greenhouse gas emissions Carbon sequestration Harvested wood products |
| title | Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy |
| title_full | Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy |
| title_fullStr | Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy |
| title_short | Climate change substitution factors for Canadian forest-based products and bioenergy |
| title_sort | climate change substitution factors for canadian forest based products and bioenergy |
| topic | Life cycle assessment Forest management Bioeconomy Greenhouse gas emissions Carbon sequestration Harvested wood products |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24003972 |
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