Abstract
Wood poles, whose load carrying capacity has been used in power and communication networks and street lighting, have a high relevance as carbon storage due to their long-term utilization and their global application. To increase the climate mitigation potential of wood poles by widening their scope of application in the construction sector and thereby substituting energy-intensive construction materials, the wood poles’ inherent properties have to be technically enhanced. New wood processing technologies such as molded wood play a decisive role here, and are also considered more energy and resource efficient than traditional wood processing technologies. This study investigates the environmental performance of molded wood poles and classic roundwood poles by means of three scientific approaches: life cycle assessment, forest ecosystem assessment, and eco-design evaluation of different wood pole concepts. Moreover, their ecological competitiveness is compared to steel and concrete, the prevailing construction materials of today. The findings show that, when compared to other construction materials, wood poles in general and molded wood poles in particular are competitive with respect to their mitigation potential for carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel consumption. With respect to resource efficiency, molded wood poles outperform other wood pole concepts as no residues arise from the production process and additional portions of the tree and various other tree species including broad-leaf trees can be used. The procurement of wood from domestic resources instead of imports is recommended when taking into account the shortcomings found in the forest management of the leading wood exporting countries.
Zusammenfassung
Langlebige Holzprodukte wie Holzmasten, deren Tragfähigkeit in Strom- und Kommunikationsnetzen sowie zur Straßenbeleuchtung genutzt wird, sind sowohl als Kohlenstoffspeicher als auch als Substituent für energieintensive Baumaterialien von hoher Relevanz. Um das Klimaschutzpotenzial von Holzmasten durch die Verbreiterung des Anwendungsbereiches im Bausektor und damit die Substituierung von energieintensiven Baumaterialien zu erhöhen, müssen die natürlichen Eigenschaften von Holz technologisch verbessert werden. Neue Holzverarbeitungstechniken wie die Formholztechnologie spielen hier eine entscheidende Rolle, da sie energie- und ressourceneffizienter als herkömmliche Holzverarbeitungstechniken sind. Diese Studie untersucht die Umweltverträglichkeit von Formholzmasten und klassischen Rundholzmasten anhand von drei wissenschaftlichen Ansätzen: Ökobilanzierung zu Holzmasten, Vergleich des Zustands zugehöriger Waldökosysteme und Bewertung des Öko-Designs verschiedener Holzmastkonzepte. Darüber hinaus wird ihre ökologische Wettbewerbsfähigkeit gegenüber Stahl und Beton verglichen, den heutzutage vorherrschenden Baumaterialien. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Holzmasten im Allgemeinen und Formholzmasten im Besonderen im Hinblick auf ihr Minderungspotenzial für Kohlendioxidemissionen oder den Verbrauch fossiler Brennstoffe konkurrenzfähig zu anderen Baumaterialien sind. In Bezug auf die Ressourceneffizienz sind Formholzmasten anderen Holzmastkonzepten überlegen, da bei ihrer Herstellung keine Reste entstehen und mehr Baumteile und Baumarten, insbesondere auch Laubhölzer, genutzt werden können. Die Beschaffung von Holz aus heimischen Ressourcen anstelle von Importen ist zu empfehlen, wenn man die Defizite in der Waldbewirtschaftung der führenden holzexportierenden Länder berücksichtigt.
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Funding
This work was financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the scope of the leading-edge cluster BioEconomy (grant number 031A068A/PtJ, project 1.4 “Faserverstärkte Formholzprodukte aus Buche”; grant number 031A441A/PtJ, project “Masten aus Form- und Furnierholz in Buche”, VP1.12 BEECHPOLE).
The public sponsor had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.
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N. May, E. Günther and P. Haller declare that they have no competing interests.
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Specifications of LCA model input parameters and material flows for the cases Azobe, Meranti and Pine wood poles as described in section 3 of the article
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May, N., Günther, E. & Haller, P. The sustainable use of wood as a regional resource—an ecological assessment of common and new processing technologies for wood poles. NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum 27, 177–201 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00550-020-00491-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00550-020-00491-4
Keywords
- Molded wood pole
- Environmental performance
- Multi-criteria decision support
- Life cycle assessment
- Forest ecosystem
- Eco-design