Prospects for Appearance Wood Products Ecodesign in the Context of Nonresidential Applications

Published Date

Article Citation:

Aline Cobut, Pierre Blanchet, and Robert Beauregard (2016) Prospects for Appearance Wood Products Ecodesign in the Context of Nonresidential Applications. Forest Products Journal: 2016, Vol. 66, No. 3-4, pp. 196-210.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13073/FPJ-D-15-00022

Author 

Aline Cobut , Pierre Blanchet , and Robert Beauregard 

The authors are, respectively, Post-doctoral Fellow, Associate Professor, and Professor, Faculté de foresterie, de géographie et de géomatique, Univ. Laval, Québec, Canada (Aline.cobut.1@ulaval.ca [corresponding author], Pierre.blanchet@sbf.ulaval.ca, Robert.beauregard@sbf.ulaval.ca). This paper was received for publication in April 2015. Article no. 15-00022.

Abstract

As environmental awareness grows, societal demand for more environmentally friendly products increases. Demand for environmental responsibility also reached the building material and construction sector. Green building has become more widespread over the past decade and can be considered a challenge for specifiers and building products manufacturers. Ecodesign, an application of the sustainable development concept, is one of the available tools to address this challenge. This article aims at proposing an ecodesign pathway for appearance wood products in the nonresidential building sector. Through extrapolating results from a previous interior wood door case study, it has been possible to obtain environmental profiles for the main segments of the appearance wood products family for nonresidential buildings. These profiles have allowed devising ecodesign solutions. Results show that for this whole family of products, raw materials are what cause the most environmental impacts, followed by shipping and end-of-life stages. Product component weight tends also to influence the environmental profile. Ecodesign solutions for composite-based products are strongly related to decreasing the composite component weight by design and remanufacturing. For solid wood–based products, ecodesign can be approached through remanufacturing or reclaiming, using locally certified sustainable wood. The use of hardwood waste may be available for energy purposes, but this may not be as relevant as reuse and recycle in the context of the province of Quebec energy grid mix.

© Forest Products Society 2016

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http://www.forestprodjournals.org/doi/abs/10.13073/FPJ-D-15-00022