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Working at USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory, the Research Unit of Economics, Statistics and Life Cycle Analysis, Dr Gu has been engaged in advancing forest biomass utilization and greenhouse gas emission reduction applying the life cycle assessment tool and economic analysis tool, bolstering innovation of wood use in green building products development and nanocellulose applications. Recent years, Dr Gu has been focusing on Mass Timber Building sustainability development with whole building life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis studies to support US Forest Service policies in resource management and utilization.
Global construction industry has a huge influence on world primary energy consumption, spending, and greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. To better understand these factors for mass timber construction, this work quantified the life cycle environmental and economic performances of a high-rise mass timber building in U.S. Pacific Northwest region through the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Using the TRACI impact category method, the cradle-to-grave LCA results showed better environmental performances for the mass timber building relative to conventional concrete building, with 3153 kg CO2-eq per m2 floor area compared to 3203 CO2-eq per m2 floor area, respectively. Over 90% of GHGs emissions occur at the operational stage with a 60-year study period. The end-of-life recycling of mass timber could provide carbon offset of 364 kg CO2-eq per m2 floor that lowers the GHG emissions of the mass timber building to a total 12% lower GHGs emissions than concrete building. The LCCA results showed that mass timber building had total life cycle cost of $3976 per m2 floor area that was 9.6% higher than concrete building, driven mainly by upfront construction costs related to the mass timber material. Uncertainty analysis of mass timber product pricing provided a pathway for builders to make mass timber buildings cost competitive. The integration of LCA and LCCA on mass timber building study can contribute more information to the decision makers such as building developers and policymakers.
Shaobo Liang; Hongmei Gu; Richard Bergman. Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building: A Case Study in Pacific Northwestern United States. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7831 .
AMA StyleShaobo Liang, Hongmei Gu, Richard Bergman. Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building: A Case Study in Pacific Northwestern United States. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (14):7831.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShaobo Liang; Hongmei Gu; Richard Bergman. 2021. "Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building: A Case Study in Pacific Northwestern United States." Sustainability 13, no. 14: 7831.
Buildings consume large amounts of materials and energy, making them one of the highest environmental impactors. Quantifying the impact of building materials can be critical to developing an effective greenhouse gas mitigation strategy. Using Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings (IE4B), this paper compares cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment (LCA) results for a 12-story building constructed from cross-laminated timber (CLT) and a functionally equivalent reinforced concrete (RC) building. Following EN 15978 framework, environmental impacts for stages A1–A5 (product to construction), B2, B4, and B6 (use), C1–C4 (end of life), and D (beyond the building life) were evaluated in detail along resource efficiency. For material resource efficiency, total mass of the CLT building was 33.2% less than the alternative RC building. For modules A to C and not considering operational energy use (B6), LCA results show a 20.6% reduction in embodied carbon achieved for the CLT building, compared to the RC building. For modules A to D and not considering B6, the embodied carbon assessment revealed that for the CLT building, 6.57 × 105 kg CO2 eq was emitted, whereas for the equivalent RC building, 2.16 × 106 kg CO2 eq was emitted, and emissions from CLT building was 70% lower than that from RC building. Additionally, 1.84 × 106 kg of CO2 eq was stored in the wood material used in the CLT building during its lifetime. Building material selection should be considered for the urgent need to reduce global climate change impacts.
Zhongjia Chen; Hongmei Gu; Richard D. Bergman; Shaobo Liang. Comparative Life-Cycle Assessment of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building with an Equivalent Reinforced Concrete Alternative Using the Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4708 .
AMA StyleZhongjia Chen, Hongmei Gu, Richard D. Bergman, Shaobo Liang. Comparative Life-Cycle Assessment of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building with an Equivalent Reinforced Concrete Alternative Using the Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (11):4708.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhongjia Chen; Hongmei Gu; Richard D. Bergman; Shaobo Liang. 2020. "Comparative Life-Cycle Assessment of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building with an Equivalent Reinforced Concrete Alternative Using the Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings." Sustainability 12, no. 11: 4708.
Climate change, environmental degradation, and limited resources are motivations for sustainable forest management. Forests, the most abundant renewable resource on earth, used to make a wide variety of forest-based products for human consumption. To provide a scientific measure of a product’s sustainability and environmental performance, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used. This article provides a comprehensive review of environmental performances of forest-based products including traditional building products, emerging (mass-timber) building products and nanomaterials using attributional LCA. Across the supply chain, the product manufacturing life-cycle stage tends to have the largest environmental impacts. However, forest management activities and logistics tend to have the greatest economic impact. In addition, environmental trade-offs exist when regulating emissions as indicated by the latest traditional wood building product LCAs. Interpretation of these LCA results can guide new product development using biomaterials, future (mass) building systems and policy-making on mitigating climate change. Key challenges include handling of uncertainties in the supply chain and complex interactions of environment, material conversion, resource use for product production and quantifying the emissions released.
KamalaKanta Sahoo; Richard Bergman; Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum; Hongmei Gu; Shaobo Liang. Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4722 .
AMA StyleKamalaKanta Sahoo, Richard Bergman, Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum, Hongmei Gu, Shaobo Liang. Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (17):4722.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKamalaKanta Sahoo; Richard Bergman; Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum; Hongmei Gu; Shaobo Liang. 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review." Sustainability 11, no. 17: 4722.
Richard Bergman; Hongmei Gu; Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum; Shaobo Liang. Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives. Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives 2019, 270, 1 -32.
AMA StyleRichard Bergman, Hongmei Gu, Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum, Shaobo Liang. Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives. Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives. 2019; 270 ():1-32.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRichard Bergman; Hongmei Gu; Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum; Shaobo Liang. 2019. "Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives." Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives 270, no. : 1-32.
Shaobo Liang; Hongmei Gu; Ted Bilek; Richard Bergman. Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study. Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study 2019, 702, 1 -11.
AMA StyleShaobo Liang, Hongmei Gu, Ted Bilek, Richard Bergman. Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study. Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study. 2019; 702 ():1-11.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShaobo Liang; Hongmei Gu; Ted Bilek; Richard Bergman. 2019. "Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study." Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study 702, no. : 1-11.
Hongmei Gu; Richard Bergman. Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts. Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts 2018, 255, 1 -73.
AMA StyleHongmei Gu, Richard Bergman. Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts. Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts. 2018; 255 ():1-73.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHongmei Gu; Richard Bergman. 2018. "Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts." Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts 255, no. : 1-73.
Shaobo Liang; Richard Bergman; Hongmei Gu. Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study. Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study 2018, 364, 1 -6.
AMA StyleShaobo Liang, Richard Bergman, Hongmei Gu. Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study. Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study. 2018; 364 ():1-6.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShaobo Liang; Richard Bergman; Hongmei Gu. 2018. "Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study." Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study 364, no. : 1-6.
Hongmei Gu; Richard Bergman. Unit process data for distributed renewable syngas production. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleHongmei Gu, Richard Bergman. Unit process data for distributed renewable syngas production. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHongmei Gu; Richard Bergman. 2021. "Unit process data for distributed renewable syngas production." , no. : 1.