Wood Products –Climate Change & Carbon Benefits

(USEPA)

Adam Robertson, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.Canadian Wood Council

Ontario Wood Solutions FairNovember 2, 2017

Presentation Outline

• Motivations & navigating the landscape– Global; National; Provincial; Municipal

• Three S’s of carbon (sink, storage, & substitution)• Embodied & operational emissions• Design tools for environmental evaluation• Environmental product declarations (EPD)• Additional information & resources

“No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change”  (Barack Obama)

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Paris Agreement

COP 21 Plenary meeting space, Paris

– “Mitigating options by the forest sector include extending carbon retention in HWP, product substitution, and producing biomass for bioenergy.”(IPCC, 2007)

– “In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained [climate change] mitigation benefit.” (IPCC, 2007)

– “Increasing the global forest land base and increasing the capacity of each forest, while using them as a sustainable supply of wood for building materials and fuel to offset the need for other energy‐intensive materials and fossil fuelsrepresents an important carbon mitigation option over the long term.” (UNFAO, 2010)

Climate Change Mitigation

• October 2015:  Pan‐Canadian agreement by Provinces to reduce GHG emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030

• BC, AB, ON, QC, MB have carbon pricing mechanisms in place (carbon tax or cap‐and‐trade system) – all Provinces required by 2018

(www.pm.gc.ca)

Vancouver Declaration

• Reduce GHG emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030

Federal Sustainable Development Strategy

Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change

• Make new & existing buildings more efficient by: 

• Requirements for labeling of building energy use by 2019

• 2022 national model code for retrofit of existing homes and buildings

• “net‐zero energy ready” model building code adopted by provinces in 2030

Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change

• Make new & existing buildings more efficient by: 

• GoC $2 billion Low Carbon Economy Fund:– help interested provinces and territories expand their efforts to improve building energy performance

– support Indigenous communities and governments as they improve the energy efficiency of their buildings

Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change

• Increase carbon removals & carbon sinks by: 

• Enhancing carbon storage in forests• Support increased use of wood for construction• Generating fuel from bioenergy and bioproducts• Advancing innovation in bio‐based product development and forest management practices 

Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change

• Canadian forest industry is pledging to remove 30 MT of CO2 a year by 2030

• Equivalent to 13% of Canada’s national commitments under Paris Agreement

FPAC 30 by 30 Challenge

• Product displacement – bio‐based products in place of fossil fuel products & energy sources

• Forest management – increased utilization, improved residue use, better growth & yield, land use planning

• Accounting of long‐lived bio‐based product carbon pools

• Higher efficiencies in manufacturing processes

FPAC 30 by 30 Challenge

15

Building Sector Contributions

• Construction and operation of buildings are responsible for (UNEP, 2009):• 40% of global energy use• 30% of anthropogenic GHG emissions worldwide

• Building sector is 3rd largest GHG emitter in Canada (17% of emissions including plug loads)

• Energy/resource use outpacing population growth

• Decreasing environmental impacts of buildings offers high environmental returns for low economic investment

Based on 1990 GHG emission levels:• Short‐term:  reduce GHGs by 30% by 2020• Long‐term:  reduce GHGs by 80% by 2050

• Buildings produce half of TO’s GHG emissions

City of Toronto – Transform TO

Goals:• 100% of new buildings are built to be near zero GHG emissions by 2030 (city‐owned by 2026)

• 100% of existing buildings retrofitted to achieve 40% energy performance improvement by 2050 

• 75% of energy comes from renewable or low‐carbon sources by 2050

• 95% of waste diverted from landfills by 2050

City of Toronto – Transform TO

• Support energy efficiency in buildings through technical and financial assistance  (Better Buildings Partnership)

• Toronto Green Standard v3.0 (May 1, 2018)

• Recognized need to develop workforce that can implement high‐performance buildings

City of Toronto – Transform TO

• Zero emissions building framework:– Support the use of passive design strategies to improve building resilience

– Higher quality building envelopes over improvements in equipment efficiency 

– Low‐carbon energy sources (on‐site & grid sourced)– Building labeling related to performance targets (operational and embodied?)

City of Toronto – Transform TO

THAT COUNCIL:• Direct staff to build all new City-owned and

Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency (VAHA) projects to be Certified to the Passive House standard or alternate zero emission building standard. (Applicable for all City-owned and VAHA building projects by 2018.)

• Incorporate requirements for calculating and reporting embodied emissions in the restructured Rezoning Policy for Green Buildings

City of Vancouver July 5, 2016Policy Report Development And Building

Passed July 12, 2016

Zurich2000-watt

Society and Minergie

(Eco Version)

Germany BNBWhole Building

LCANetherlands

Whole Building LCA

BelgiumEmbodied

Impacts

FranceEPD

U. K.BREEAM

LCA

Decarbonization – increasing polices affecting both performance and embodied impacts.

• Mitigation:– CO2 + H2O + Sunlight  Sugars  Cellulose (Wood) + O2

– Wood is 50% carbon by dry weight (a natural carbon storage device)

• Adaptation:– Hygroscopic (stores or releases moisture to external environment, i.e. shrinks & swells)

– High thermal resistance properties(resulting from trapped still air)

Wood – A Natural Building Material

(Wood Handbook)

CARBON CONSIDERATIONSSINK

STORAGE

OPERATIONS

SUBSTITUTE

TIME

Three S’s of Carbon – Forests as Sinks• Carbon flows

– Forest cover has remained constant for last 100 yrs.– Sustainable management is paramount

(Tackle Climate Change,Use Wood)

(Federal Actions for a Clean Growth Economy, 2016)

(NRCan, 2016)

Forest Products Association of Canada |Association des produits forestiers du Canada | 6

166

47  41 23  19  16  14  12  10  9  8  8 

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Millions of h

ectares c

ertified

Canadian Certification in the Global Context2015 Year‐end

Sources:  www.certificationcanada.org as of Dec 31/15www.fsc.org as of Jan. 5/16

www.pefc.org as of Dec 31/15

Net Total for Canada(Double counting of areas certified to more than one standard has been removed).

Importance of Forests as Carbon SinksDeforestation account for 20% of GHGs (IPCC, 2007)

Change in Global Forest Cover 2000-2005 – FAO 2006

http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/36180.pdf

Carbon Fluxes in Sustainably Managed Forests

• Wood products & building systems have ability to store large amounts of carbon (CO2 eq.)

• 1 m3 of S‐P‐F stores   ̴ 1 tonne of CO2 eq.• Amount of carbon stored ∞ wood density

Three S’s of Carbon – Storage

(Johal)

(APA)

Tracking Carbon Pools

Three S’s of Carbon – Substitution

• Wood products can substitute for other more carbon‐intensive building materials

• Embodied emissions are avoided by using wood

• Displacement factors (kg CO2 avoided/kg wood used) can be estimated to calculate carbon avoided 

1/ Values are based on life cycle assessment and include gathering and processing of rawmaterials, primary and secondary processing, and transportation.2/ Source: USEPA (2006) and Bowyer (2015)

Net Carbon Emissions in Producing1,2 a kg of:

Net Production Emissions

Whole Building Evaluation

Forest, Product, Emissions, Displacement & Substitution Carbon by Component

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

2025

2030

2035

2040

2045

2050

2055

2060

2065

2070

2075

2080

2085

2090

2095

2100

2105

2110

2115

2120

2125

2130

2135

2140

2145

2150

2155

2160

2165

Year

Met

ric T

ons

Per H

ecta

re

Stem Root Crown Litter Dead Chips Lumber HarvEmis ManufEmis Displacement Substitution

Forestwith Products

with Substitution

Forest, Product and Substitution Pools

(CEI‐Bois/EPF)

End‐of‐life Alternatives

• Energy recovery• Recycle

• Reuse• Landfill

0

5E‐14

1E‐13

1.5E‐13

2E‐13

2.5E‐13

3E‐13

3.5E‐13

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Avoide

d radiative forcing (W

.yr.m

‐2)

Years

Cumulative benefit of avoided 1 kg CO2 emission

Net present value of 1 tonne CO2 in 80 years

.24 tonne

Operational Embodied

Whole Life Cycle Emissions – 80 Year Building Life

Year 0Operational Emissions

Embodied Emissions

Operational Emissions

Embodied Emissions

Year 12Operational = Embodied

Operational Emissions

Embodied Emissions

BUT……

Year 80

What if….• The building is poorly maintained and becomes

decrepit before 80 years?• The building is operated more efficiently?• The land becomes more valuable for another use

and the building is removed?• The building uses renewable (zero emission)

energy?• The building is rendered unusable (fire, storm,

flood…)• A carbon tipping point is reached before the

modeled savings are reached?• Or….???

Rising Importance of Embodied Material Impacts

(PE International)

Rising Importance of Embodied Material Impacts

(CPA, 2012)(Architect:  Richard Rogers)

Green design choices are complex

• Building Code– NBC plans to develop a stretch code/code plus– IgCC, ASHRAE 189.1 & CalGreen have codified         green building practices in U.S.

• Green Building Rating Systems & Challenges– LEED®, Green Globes, Living Building, Architecture 2030

Whole‐Building Evaluation Tools

• www.cwc.ca Resources     Electronic Tools

Online Carbon CalculatorFor Wood Buildings ‐ Updated

Online Carbon Calculator

(ESSB, Vancouver – Perkins + Will)

Online Carbon Calculator

Online Carbon Calculator

Online Carbon Calculator

NRCan, 2016

UBC Brock Commons (18‐storeys)

Example

55

Study of GHG emissions of a functionally equivalent floor structure: 

6m x 6m bay size in office building.

Steel deck and concrete solution

Wood solution

Steel‐Concrete Solution

56

Results

Potential GHG emissions

Quantity of materials

Steel girders and steel deck with concrete slab

Concrete

3 m3

540kg CO2 

Steel deck

0.4 tonnes

868kg CO2

Steel girders

0.2 tonnes

198kg CO2

Steel reinfor‐cement

0.03 tonnes

27kg CO2

1633 kg CO2 éq.

CIRAIG Data

Wood Solution

57

Results

Potential GHG emissions

Quantity of materials

Wood floor trusses with OSB

Truss plates

0.05 tonnes

63 kg CO2

Nails

0.04 tonnes

37 kg CO2

OSB

75 m2

75 kg CO2

Softwood lumber

0.9 m3

32 kg CO2

276 kg CO2 éq.

CIRAIG Data

BEES – Select Alternatives

Based on functional unit

BEES – Reporting Results

Publicly available at:

https://www.nist.gov/services‐resources/software/bees

Athena Impact Estimator

ATHENA Impact Estimator – Custom Wall

ATHENA Impact Estimator

Athena Impact Estimator – Floors & Roof

Impact Estimator – Design Comparison

Available for free:

http://calculatelca.com 

• ‘Nutrition labels’ conveying LCA‐derived environmental impact data about products

• Transparently discloses standardized data about potential environmental impacts

• Simple & user‐friendly mechanism to bring LCA data into the marketplace

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)

Data averaged for North America

EPD for Softwood Lumber

NRCan, 2016

• Industry wide EPDs for wood products                      (available at www.cwc.ca)1. Softwood lumber2. Plywood3. OSB4. Glulam5. LVL6. I‐Joists7. LSL8. MDF9. Particleboard10. Preservative treated lumber (ACQ & Borate)11. Redwood decking

• Data weighted by production volume

EPDs for North American Wood Products

• CWC Sustainability Fact Sheets:– Carbon– Life Cycle Assessment– Resilient & Adaptive Design– Social & Economic Benefits(cwc.ca/publications/technical/fact‐sheets)

• rethinkwood.com • naturallywood.com • Free online tools:

– Carbon Calculator– BEES– Athena Impact Estimator

Resource Materials

NRCan CFS Resources

What Lies Ahead

Questions & Comments??

Adam Robertson, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.Manager, Codes and Standards

Structural Engineering and SustainabilityCanadian Wood Council

www.cwc.ca

arobertson@cwc.ca