PW06 Life-Cycle Assessment
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Wednesday
(PW088) Life Cycle Inventory Analysis of Log Production of Japanese Cedar and Cypress.
TAHARA, Kiyotaka1, INABA, Atsushi1, YAMANAKA, Kazunori2, HATTORI, Nobuaki2, NOGUCHI, Toshihiro3, TERAZAWA, Kenji3, KUTANI, Minehiro3, 1 Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment, AIST, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, JAPAN2 Department of Natural Resources and Ecomaterials, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo, JAPAN3 Forest Management Division, Sumitomo Forestry CO., LTD, Shinjuku, Tokyo, JAPAN
ABSTRACT- While performing life cycle assessment (LCA) on wooden products, the environmental loads tend to be underestimated because log production stage is often disregarded. In order to evaluate the environment cautiousness of wooden products holistically, the environmental loads from the production stage must be quantitatively analyzed. Therefore, in this study, we gathered the process inventory data on the production stage of Japanese cedar and cypress, which are primarily used for structural material of wooden house in Japan, to quantitatively analyze the environmental loads using LCA methodology. We chose forests in Ehime and Kochi prefecture, as study sites to calculate the environmental loads from the production of log of 1 m3. The results showed that the most significant potion of environmental loads was attributed to the harvesting stage, among other stages, including planting, thinning, mowing, pruning and improvement cutting. It was further found that logging was most significant aspect in the harvesting stage. We also analyzed the environmental loads of imported wooden products used in Japan. The inventory data on production stage in foreign countries were obtained from the literature, and shipment of logs was assumed to be surface transportation. The results of the analysis confirmed that the domestic wood products had lowest influence on environment as the distance of transportation is a predominant factor for the degree of environmental loads.
Key words: Japanese Cedar, Log Production, Japanese Cypress, Life Cycle Inventory