Assessing GHG mitigation potential of wood substitution: long-lived wood products or wood bioenergy?

English Abstract:

Using harvested wood products (HWP) to replace other energy-intensive materials in construction or to substitute tree biomass for fossil fuels are two options that the managed forest sector has for greenhouse gas mitigation. In this study, we compare the net carbon balance of HWP estimated based on forest harvest projections in 2014-2113 for a forest management unit in Ontario, and Ontario’s historical HWP manufacturing and end uses trends, to hypothetically diverting this harvested wood to substitute for fossil fuels in energy production. Ontario’s forest carbon budget model, FORCARB-ON2, was used to quantify the carbon balance of wood harvested from the managed forests. Since the same volume of forest carbon is removed in both scenarios, the mitigation potential of current wood uses versus for bioenergy is determined by the life cycle carbon stocks and/or emissions of HWP and wood energy, compared to that of the alternative materials and fossil fuels,. Our results show that HWP used to replace energy-intensive materials can result in greater and more timely mitigation benefits, compared to using wood to substitute for fossil fuels.