Implementation of new normative requirements for LCA data for wood construction products in the ÖKOBAUDAT database

Lead Institute HF Institute of Wood Research

Update of the basic LCA data for wood construction products in the ÖkoHolzBauDat database

In order to ensure a continuous monitoring of the climate impacts of timber construction products, the LCA data, which are regularly provided by the Thünen Institute of Wood Research, are fully updated.

Background and Objective

Regular updates of the data sets also require updates of the industrial data, which according to the specifications of the building department may not be older than 5 years, which means that a new survey is necessary.

The aim of the project is to model the whole sector once again and at the same time adapt the datasets to new normative requirements.

Approach

The data collection includes the associations and companies of the wood processing industry in Germany, i.e. sawnwood production and processing into solid wood products as well as into wood-based materials. All data relevant to the environmental performance are collected from the manufacturing plants via queries in order to create production volume-weighted average data sets that are representative for Germany. The modeling is performed according to the international LCA standards ISO EN DIN 14040/44 and their specifications for construction products EN DIN 15804.

Additionally, the datasets will be adapted to the recently updated version of EN 15804. This uncludes calculating new indicators, such as the influence of land use change on the greenhouse gas balance of wood construction products. For this purpose, a suitable calculation method will be developed and applied.