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How carbon stored in harvested wood products contribute in a greenhouse gas accounting perspective
2017 - IRG/WP 17-50327
In 2014 the net annual removal by Norwegian forests was 30.4 mill ton CO2-eqvivalents while the emissions in other sectors was 53.2 mill ton CO2-eqvivalents. Hence, forests can play a major role in the national greenhouse gas balance. But forests also contribute to the carbon pool stored in wood products. The aim of this paper is, by using Norway as an example, to illustrate how the greenhouse gas...
G Alfredsen, G Søgaard


Uncertainty in life cycle assessment of preservative treated wood – copper and freshwater ecotoxicity
2017 - IRG/WP 17-50331
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product over the life cycle. In the last years, there have been a growing application of LCA in developments of environmental product declaration (EPD), which is utilised by professional procurement of materials for buildings. For legislative issues, LCA have also been used to assess application of creosote to t...
L G F Tellnes


Long service life or cascading? The environmental impact of maintenance of wood-based materials for building envelope and their recycling options
2018 - IRG/WP 18-50336
A major restraint in choosing bio-based materials (i.e. wood-based) for external use, is the lack of confidence that architects, designers and customers have toward these materials. In particular, the limit state of bio-based materials, which defines the frequency of maintenance operations, might be reached earlier for wood than for other materials (i.e. concrete). On the other hand, resource and ...
M Petrillo, J Sandak, P Grossi, A Kutnar, A


Declaring life cycle inventory of toxicity related emissions in environmental product declarations of preservative treated wood products
2018 - IRG/WP 18-50339
Life cycle assessment (LCA) including impacts on toxicity for preservative treated wood has been shown to have large uncertainties. With the growing demand for verified LCA in environmental product declarations (EPD), the need for reliable data is crucial for realistic assessment of wood products. Uncertainty is caused by several issues such as service life prediction, leaching rates and calculati...
L G F Tellnes, C Askham, P-O Flæte, M Klamer


Is cascading of harvested wood products really an environmentally beneficial strategy in Finland and Norway?
2020 - IRG/WP 20-50364
The role of cascading wood waste in the bioeconomy is highlighted in the several strategic documents. The European Waste Framework Directive describes a waste hierarchy where re-use and recovery are considered more favourable options compared with energy recovery, and applies strict re-use and recycling targets to household waste and non-hazardous construction and demolition waste. It is not fully...
C A S Hill, G Alfredsen, M Hughes, L R Gobakken


Marine borer resistance of various wood materials in Japan
2021 - IRG/WP 21-10983
Wood resistance against marine borer was intensively studied in the 1940s in Japan, but the research activities on the subject diminished afterward, as the use of wooden marine structures and ships decreased. Today, however, use of wood as a construction material is officially promoted for its environmental benefits. The author started to immerse some wood materials in the seawater pool at PARI ...
M Yamada


Make do and mend: Re-using timber in Smithfield Market
2022 - IRG/WP 22-50371
Historic buildings are part of our built environment. They are a record of how construction and use of materials have evolved and provide excellent opportunities for regeneration of urban areas. Moreover, re-using these buildings and as much of the material within, contributes to the Green Revolution. Currently, there is tremendous growth in green construction and as Bob Dylan once said, “the t...
J R Williams


Long-term field performance of a carbon-based preservative in ground contact test conditions
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30781
Carbon-based preservatives have demonstrated reasonable long-term field performance in above ground testing. This study examines the performance of a carbon-based preservative formulation containing quaternary ammonium compounds and tebuconazole as a treatment for three softwood species exposed in ground contact at two sites in Canada. The treatment was associated with improved decay resistance an...
C Wilson, J Zhang, R Stirling


Carbon nanotubes and multifunctional silane additive as fillers in PF resin and their effect on the composite flammability
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30783
Adhesive bonds are the most readily modifiable and, at the same time, give the greatest scope for modification of components of lignocellulosic composites. A study of a manufactured lignocellulosic composite based on a phenol-formaldehyde resin and pine veneer with additives modifying the properties of the resin was made. The multifunctional commercial silicon oxide Protectosil 851 and multi-walle...
W L Grzeskowiak, B Mazela, T Prowadzisz


Environmental Benefits of Wood Preservation
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50377
Over the past decade or two, many people have become significantly more aware and concerned about the global environment and the health of our planet. Building with wood products from sustainably managed forests carries significant environmental benefits. The ability of a growing tree to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and sequester the carbon is beneficial in the role of combating rising CO2 levels...
A Siraa


Utilising novel service life prediction methods for robust and precise Life-Cycle-Costing (LCC)
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50384
Life-Cycle-Costing (LCC) is one of the basic indicators for the assessment of sustainability and cost effectiveness in construction applications. Project WoodLCC was thus conceived to enable LCC through input from models for detailed service life planning of wooden components and buildings. The project is a continuation of the service life planning research conducted in Europe over the last three ...
P B van Niekerk, G Alfredsen, T Kalamees, R Modaresi, A Sandak, J Niklewski, C Brischke


Keeping wood greenest: Maximizing the unique benefits of preserved wood through end-of-life planning to realize carbon sequestration and a circular economy
2024 - IRG/WP 24-50387
While competitive fuels and different energy sources are a main driver of current difficulties with using end-of-life wood products for fuel, that is a potentially smaller problem than the rapidly changing carbon footprints of competitive materials, which can potentially be smaller than wood, if the wrong decisions are made at the end of life by users and waste generators. While users have several...
J D Lloyd, B Poe


A novel anti-fungal wood crack repairing agent based on CQDs/PVA
2025 - IRG/WP 25-20744
Wood is a sustainable material, but its tendency to crack and decay poses a challenge for its applications. In this study, we developed a combination system of nitrogen-doping carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to repair wood cracks. Rather than employing the conventional repairing methods such as filling cracks with sawdust and petroleum based-adhesives, this technique can m...
X Zhao, Z Zhang, Y Peng, W Wang, J Cao


Carbon quantum dots as a fungicide and its applications in wood
2025 - IRG/WP 25-20754
In this work, we synthesised nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (CQDs) via a microwave assisted method. CQDs with proper structure showed excellent anti-fungal effects against both brown (Postia placenta, Pp) and white rot decay fungi (Trametes versicolor, Tv) on wood. The underlying anti-fungal mechanisms of CQDs on wood were further elucidated. We found that positively charged nano-sized CQDs pr...
X Zhao, Z Zhang, M Zhou, J Cao


Recycling wood treated with copper-based preservatives to produce hard carbon materials for energy storage applications
2025 - IRG/WP 25-50401
In this study, we explored the possibility of recycling wood treated with copper-based preservatives to produce hard carbon materials for use in energy storage devices. We pyrolsed both untreated and copper-treated wood into hard carbon, conducted microstructural and physicochemical characterisation, prepared electrode materials, and evaluated their electrochemical performance in sodium-ion batter...
D Huo, J-P Bonnet, A Jamali


WoodStock: Empowering climate-smart, circular, and zero-waste use of underutilized wood from the forest and building stock in the construction sector to support the New European Bauhaus
2025 - IRG/WP 25-50405
There is a clear need for enhanced contribution of the forest-based sector to decarbonisation strategies for buildings, both in terms of operational emissions, embodied emissions, and carbon removals. WoodStock is a multifaceted project dedicated to advancing climate-smart wood construction practices in alignment with the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative. A primary focus is the quantification...
L De Ligne, J Van Acker, J Van den Bulcke


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