Carbon footprint analyses of structural bamboo products
department or school: Forestry, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Liu, Xiaoyu
issued: 2024-09-05T19:20:15Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Traditionally, the assessment of the carbon footprint of bamboo products has focused only on the final product (e.g. laminated bamboo or bamboo scrimber), ignoring the important contribution of intermediate products (e.g. bamboo strips or bamboo bundle) to the overall environmental impact. Recognizing the importance of providing a holistic perspective, this study extends the scope of analysis to intermediate products. By developing a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) model, this study quantifies the carbon footprints of intermediate and final bamboo products, and the utilization of processing residues under different scenarios, including boiler fuel, charcoal, and toothpick production. The assessment results are compared with benchmark products, including wood-based products and non-renewable alternatives (e.g. steel and concrete), to gain insight into the relative environmental performance of bamboo products. The results show that bamboo products have higher carbon emissions at the manufacturing stage compared to some alternatives, such as wood-based products made in North America or Europe, due to bamboo products being made in China which uses coal as the major energy source for electricity. The major contributor to the manufacturing procedure of bamboo products is electricity. However, these emissions can be offset by the carbon storage of bamboo during the growth stage. Therefore, the net carbon footprints of bamboo products are comparable to those of wood products when both carbon sequestration and emission are considered. Intermediate products are the major contributors to the total carbon emission of bamboo structural products. The impact of residue utilization for bamboo products is between -9.30 and 2.91 kg CO₂ eq, contributing insignificantly to the overall carbon footprint of the product life cycle.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/89174
note: Carbon Footprint Analyses of Structural Bamboo Products by Xiaoyu Liu B.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2021 B.Eng. Beijing Forestry University, 2021 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Forestry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2024 © Xiaoyu Liu, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Carbon Footprint Analyses of Structural Bamboo Products submitted by Xiaoyu Liu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Forestry Examining Committee: Dr. Chunping Dai, Associate Professor, Department of Wood Science, UBC Co-supervisor Dr. Qingshi Tu, Assistant Professor, Department of Wood Science, UBC Co-supervisor Dr. Taraneh Sowlati, Professor, Department of Wood Science, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Guangyu Wang, Associate Dean, Department of Forest Resources Management, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract Traditionally, the assessment of the carbon footprint of bamboo products has focused only on the final product (e.g. laminated bamboo or bamboo scrimber), ignoring the important contribution of intermediate products (e.g. bamboo strips or bamboo bundle) to the overall environmental impact. Recognizing the importance of providing a holistic perspective, this study extends the scope of analysis to intermediate products. By developing a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) model, this study quantifies the carbon footprints of intermediate and final bamboo products, and the utilization of processing residues under different scenarios, including boiler fuel, charcoal, and toothpick production. The assessment results are compared with benchmark products, including wood-based products and non-renewable alternatives (e.g. steel and concrete), to gain insight into the…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2024-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0445323
language: eng
degree discipline: Forestry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Dai, Chunping, 1963-
contributor: Tu, Qingshi
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89174