An assessment framework for the sustainable use of UK timber

英国木材可持续利用评估框架

• 批准号: 2738789
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2738789
• 关键词: assessment; framework; sustainable; use; UK

Timber is an attractive material choice for minimising the environmental impact of engineering projects, as it commonly has a lower embodied energy than its synthetic counterparts and it can remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. Timber is also renewable, however, it takes decades for trees to mature, so it is vital that forests are managed sustainably. To combat deforestation, global forest certification schemes ensure timber is produced from sustainably managed forests. It is therefore good practice for certified timber to be used by engineers. Furthermore, transportation can account for the majority of the embodied carbon of procured timber [1], so timber should also be sourced from local forests, to minimise environmental impacts. In a UK context, this presents a problem; the UK is the second highest net importer of timber in the world, due to its high timber demand and low domestic timber stock, all while the UK government is below its tree planting target [2]. Thus increased use of domestic timber could become unsustainable for UK forests. To complicate matters further, UK forests are changing; forest managers are transitioning away from monoculture plantations to more diverse woodlands that offer greater resilience to disease, pests, and climate change [2]. A sustainable use of UK timber must consider the limitations to domestic timber supply, through using timber both more efficiently and from a diverse range of species. However, this consideration is currently missing in the environmental assessments of timber found in the open literature. Currently, the most common method to quantify the environmental impact of timber use is a life cycle assessment (LCA). However, commonly used LCA methods often omit key environmental impacts relating to forest land use and land use change [3]. LCA methods are being improved in the literature, which is providing greater insight into the environmental impacts of different forestry methods. However, these advanced LCA methods require compiling and improving before they can be used for a holistic assessment of an engineering project. This project aims to produce a framework that allows for a holistic assessment of the use of UK timber in engineering projects, taking into account timber availability and supply chains as well as forestry land use and land use change. Life cycle costing and social LCA methodologies will also be included to include all three pillars of sustainability. The framework will be tested and validated using engineering case studies that use UK timber and range in complexity. The sourcing and design decisions made in each case study will be compared against a business-as-usual baseline scenario and a best-case scenario. This will allow for an assessment of the decisions made, to provide guidance, to the industry, on the future sustainable use of UK timber.References:[1] "Buildings infrastructure priority actions for sustainability: Embodied carbon, timber," ARUP, 2023.[2] "Seeing the wood for the trees: The contribution of the forestry and timber sectors to biodiversity and net zero goals," House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, 2023.[3] C. E. Andersen, et al., "Whole Life Carbon Impact of: 45 Timber Buildings," Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, 2023

木材是一种有吸引力的材料选择，可以最大限度地减少工程项目对环境的影响，因为它通常比合成材料具有更低的能量，并且可以从大气中去除和储存碳。木材也是可再生的，但是，树木需要几十年才能成熟，因此可持续地管理森林至关重要。为了打击森林砍伐，全球森林认证计划确保木材来自可持续管理的森林。因此，工程师使用经认证的木材是一种良好做法。此外，运输可以占采购木材的大部分隐含碳[1]，因此木材也应来自当地森林，以尽量减少对环境的影响。在英国的情况下，这提出了一个问题;由于其高木材需求和低国内木材库存，英国是世界上第二大木材净进口国，而英国政府却低于其植树目标[2]。因此，增加使用国产木材可能会使英国森林不可持续。更复杂的是，英国的森林正在发生变化;森林管理者正在从单一种植园过渡到更多样化的林地，这些林地对疾病，害虫和气候变化具有更大的适应力[2]。英国木材的可持续利用必须考虑到国内木材供应的限制，通过更有效地使用木材和来自不同种类的木材。然而，在公开文献中发现的木材环境评估中目前缺少这一考虑因素。 目前，量化木材使用对环境影响的最常用方法是生命周期评估（LCA）。然而，常用的LCA方法往往忽略了与林地利用和土地利用变化有关的关键环境影响[3]。LCA方法在文献中得到改进，这为不同林业方法的环境影响提供了更深入的了解。然而，这些先进的生命周期评价方法需要编译和改进之前，他们可以用于一个工程项目的整体评估。该项目旨在制定一个框架，考虑到木材供应和供应链以及林业土地利用和土地利用变化，对英国木材在工程项目中的使用进行全面评估。还将包括生命周期成本计算和社会LCA方法，以包括可持续性的所有三个支柱。该框架将使用英国木材和复杂性范围的工程案例研究进行测试和验证。在每个案例研究中做出的采购和设计决策将与正常业务基线场景和最佳案例场景进行比较。这将允许对所做的决策进行评估，为行业提供指导，对英国木材的未来可持续利用。参考文献：[1]“建筑基础设施可持续发展优先行动：碳排放，木材”，ARUP，2023。[2]“见木见树：林业和木材部门对生物多样性和净零目标的贡献”，下议院环境审计委员会，2023年。[3]C. E. Andersen等人，“45个木结构建筑物的全寿命碳影响”，奥尔堡大学建筑环境系，2023年