Open Collections

Liu, Xiaoyu

University of British Columbia

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.

Text

2024-09-05

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89174

Forestry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/