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Environmental assessment and improvement alternatives of a ventilated wooden wall from LCA and DfE perspective

  • WOOD AND OTHER RENEWABLE RESOURCES
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The main goal of this paper was to analyse the environmental profile of a structural component of a wooden house: a ventilated wooden wall, by combining two environmental methodologies: one quantitative, the life cycle assessment (LCA) and another qualitative, the design for the environment (DfE).

Methods

The LCA study covers the whole life cycle of the ventilated wall manufacture as well as its distribution, installation and maintenance. To carry out this analysis, a Galician wood company was assessed in detail, dividing the process into four stages: the assembling stage, the packing stage, the distribution to clients as well as the final installation and maintenance of the wooden wall.

Ten impact categories have been assessed in detail in the LCA study: abiotic depletion (AD), acidification (AC), eutrophication (EP), global warming (GW), ozone layer depletion (OD), human toxicity (HT), fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity (FE), marine aquatic ecotoxicity (ME), terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE) and photochemical oxidant formation (PO).

Results and discussion

According to the environmental results, the assembling stage was the most important contributor to the environmental profile with contributions from 57% to 87%, followed by the production of the electricity required. The detailed analysis of the assembling stage identified the most important environmental hot spots: the production of boards used in the structure [oriented strand board and medium density fibreboard (MDF)] as well as the transportation of the cedar sheets from Brazil.

Concerning the results of the DfE, a selection of different eco-design strategies was proposed from technological, economic and social points of view by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and company´s workers. The eco-design strategy considered the following improvement actions: (i) the substitution of the MDF in the wall structure; (ii) the use of German red pine sheets; (iii) the installation of solar panels in the facilities; (iv) the use of Euro 5 transport vehicles, (v) the use of biodiesel for transport; (vi) the definition of a maintenance protocol for the wooden materials; and (vii) the definition of a protocol for the separation of materials before disposal.

Conclusions

The results obtained in this work allow predicting the influence of the selection and origin of the raw materials used on the environmental burdens associated with the process. Future work will focus on the manufacturing of a prototype of an eco-designed ventilated wooden wall.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been partially financed by the Xunta de Galicia (project references PGIDIT08MDS005CT and GRC 2010/37). Dr. S. González-García would like to express her gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Education for financial support (grant reference: EX2009-0740) during which this paper was prepared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Division of Biology, Imperial College of London, South Kensington Campus, Sir Alexander Fleming Buildings, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Sara González-García

  2. SosteniPrA (UAB-IRTA-Inèdit), Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), School of Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Raúl García Lozano, Xavier Gabarrell & Joan Rieradevall i Pons

  3. Quality Management Department, Las cinco Jotas, Avda. Camelias No 1, 6203, Vigo, Spain

    Javier Costas Estévez

  4. Innovation and Technology Area, CIS MADEIRA, Galician Park of Technology, Avenida de Galicia 5, San Cibrao das Viñas, 32901, Ourense, Spain

    Rosario Castilla Pascual

  5. Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Sara González-García, Ma. Teresa Moreira & Gumersindo Feijoo

Authors
  1. Sara González-García
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  2. Raúl García Lozano
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  4. Rosario Castilla Pascual
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  5. Ma. Teresa Moreira
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  6. Xavier Gabarrell
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  7. Joan Rieradevall i Pons
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  8. Gumersindo Feijoo
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Correspondence to Sara González-García.

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Responsible editor: Jörg Schweinle

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González-García, S., Lozano, R.G., Estévez, J.C. et al. Environmental assessment and improvement alternatives of a ventilated wooden wall from LCA and DfE perspective. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17, 432–443 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0384-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0384-0

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