Case Study of Life Cycle Assessment of Domestic Logs

Abstract

Wood is regarded as an Environmentally Friendly material. However, it is difficult to show quantitative evidence. Therefore we conducted a life cycle assessment of domestic logs. As a result of this analysis, it was estimated that to produce 1 m3 of domestic logs caused the emission of 11.1 kg of CO2 and had an environmental impact of 70.6 Yen. Besides, for reducing the environmental impact from domestic log production it is important to improve the logging processes such as thinning and final cutting. Among them, we could reduce the impact more if high-performance forest machinery was used more efficiently in the logging process. © 2013, The Japan Wood Research Society. All rights reserved.