PW06 Life-Cycle Assessment
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Wednesday
(PW066) Framework for LCA of logs from plantations in New Zealand: exemplified on Radiata Pine.
Nielsen, P1, Shepherd, M1, Nebel, B1, Gifford, J1, 1 Forest Research, Rotorua, New Zealand
ABSTRACT- The forestry sector is an important part of New Zealand's economy. About 10 % of all exports are Forestry exports (excluding newsprint). 99 % of all timber harvested in New Zealand is coming from plantations which cover about 12 % of the land area. With about 90 % of all plantations the largest share is planted with Pinus Radiata which is a fast growing pine species. Douglas fir and Eucalypt are the other main species grown in plantations. Exemplified on Pinus Radiata a framework has been developed to carry out an LCA of plantations systems in New Zealand. This paper shows the results of the LCA on pinus radiata and the standardised framework which enables regular updates. Due to its relatively short rotation periods of about 25 to 30 years, forestry practices are changing quite fast and efficiency improves considerably. The developed framework will allow a regularly update data of the data and also enable comparable studies for Douglas fir and Eucalypt. The LCA was carried out according to ISO 14040 to 43 and the functional unit is one oven dried tonne of roundwood logs. Base year for the LCA is the year ending 31st March 1998.
Key words: plantation, lca, forestry, round wood