scholarly journals Comparative LCAs of Conventional and Mass Timber Buildings in Regions with Potential for Mass Timber Penetration

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13987
Author(s):  
Maureen Puettmann ◽  
Francesca Pierobon ◽  
Indroneil Ganguly ◽  
Hongmei Gu ◽  
Cindy Chen ◽  
...  

Manufacturing of building materials and construction of buildings make up 11% of the global greenhouse gas emission by sector. Mass timber construction has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by moving wood into buildings with designs that have traditionally been dominated by steel and concrete. The environmental impacts of mass timber buildings were compared against those of functionally equivalent conventional buildings. Three pairs of buildings were designed for the Pacific Northwest, Northeast and Southeast regions in the United States to conform to mass timber building types with 8, 12, or 18 stories. Conventional buildings constructed with concrete and steel were designed for comparisons with the mass timber buildings. Over all regions and building heights, the mass timber buildings exhibited a reduction in the embodied carbon varying between 22% and 50% compared to the concrete buildings. Embodied carbon per unit of area increased with building height as the quantity of concrete, metals, and other nonrenewable materials increased. Total embodied energy to produce, transport, and construct A1–A5 materials was higher in all mass timber buildings compared to equivalent concrete. Further research is needed to predict the long-term carbon emissions and carbon mitigation potential of mass timber buildings to conventional building materials.

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry F. Lehnhoff ◽  
K. Thirumalai ◽  
Alan D. Krug

The Columbia River basalts, which underlie a large portion of the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America, are being investigated as one of the candidate media for a nuclear waste repository. The Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) of Rockwell Hanford Operations (Rockwell) is conducting these investigations for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Since the inception of the program in 1976, a number of studies have led to the selection of a reference repository location and the start of construction of an exploratory shaft.1-3


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 06021002
Author(s):  
Shiling Pei ◽  
Jake Stogdill ◽  
Samuel V. Glass ◽  
Samuel Zelinka ◽  
Steven Kordziel ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-230
Author(s):  
James H Dooley ◽  
Matthew J Wamsley ◽  
Jason M Perry

Abstract. This article describes how the moisture content of baled woody biomass varied during long-term open-air storage under conditions in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Large rectangular bales of forest and urban biomass were produced beginning in August 2015 and periodically until June 2016. Weights were measured approximately monthly until the entire lot of bales was ground into fuel in December 2016. Because it was impractical to non-destructively obtain moisture content samples during the study, final moisture content was measured from the ground material. Estimated temporal moisture contents were back-calculated from the final dry weight and moisture content of bales. All bales dried considerably during the spring and summer months, achieving a minimum moisture content in the early fall of 15 to 29% (wb). Minimum early fall moisture content had no correlation with the initial moisture content at time of baling. The ending moisture content in December 2016 ranged from 44% to 57% (wb), with a mean moisture content of 53% (wb). Ending moisture content had no correlation with initial moisture content at the time of baling, but appeared to be related to the amount of fine versus coarse woody material in the bales. Bales of forest and urban woody biomass proved to be structurally stable during long-term storage to enable handling and final transport to a centralized grinding location. Keywords: Density, Logging, Baling, Bioenergy, Biofuel, Bundling, Forest operations, Forestry, MC, Seasonality, Transport, Woody biomass.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilanjan Sengupta

Building construction sector can play a major role in reducing Greenhouse Gas emission through application of technologies aimed at reduction of use of building materials. Energy consumed during production of building materials and components plays a crucial role in creating environmental pollution. India is witnessing high growth in urban and rural housing, which needs more production of building materials. Permanent or semi-permanent type buildings which consume easily available conventional materials like brick, reinforced cement concrete etc. can be made Economic and Eco-friendly by lowering use of energy-consuming building materials through Cost-effective Construction Technologies. Buildings with Cost-effective Construction Technology can be designed within the parameters of the existing Indian Standards. Awareness generation among the users, proper technical and architectural guidance and easy availability of skilled manpower are of utmost importance for promotion of cost-effective technologies in India and to make them as the most acceptable case of sustainable building technologies both in terms of cost and environment.


2016 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 616-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.R. Echegaray ◽  
R.N. Stougaard ◽  
B. Bohannon

AbstractEuxestonotus error (Fitch) (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) is considered part of the natural enemy complex of the wheat midge Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Although previously reported in the United States of America, there is no record for this species outside the state of New York since 1865. A survey conducted in the summer of 2015 revealed that E. error is present in northwestern Montana and is likely playing a role in the suppression of wheat midge populations.


Author(s):  
Ingeborg Levin ◽  
Samuel Hammer ◽  
Elke Eichelmann ◽  
Felix R. Vogel

Independent verification of greenhouse gas emissions reporting is a legal requirement of the Kyoto Protocol, which has not yet been fully accomplished. Here, we show that dedicated long-term atmospheric measurements of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), continuously conducted at polluted sites can provide the necessary tool for this undertaking. From our measurements at the semi-polluted Heidelberg site in the upper Rhine Valley, we find that in the catchment area CH 4 emissions decreased on average by 32±6% from the second half of the 1990s until the first half of the 2000s, but the observed long-term trend of emissions is considerably smaller than that previously reported for southwest Germany. In contrast, regional fossil fuel CO 2 levels, estimated from high-precision 14 CO 2 observations, do not show any significant decreasing trend since 1986, in agreement with the reported emissions for this region. In order to provide accurate verification, these regional measurements would best be accompanied by adequate atmospheric transport modelling as required to precisely determine the relevant catchment area of the measurements. Furthermore, reliable reconciliation of reported emissions will only be possible if these are known at high spatial resolution in the catchment area of the observations. This information should principally be available in all countries that regularly report their greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.


Plant Disease ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 93 (8) ◽  
pp. 797-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renuka N. Attanayake ◽  
Dean A. Glawe ◽  
Frank M. Dugan ◽  
Weidong Chen

The taxonomy of the powdery mildew fungus infecting lentil in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States was investigated on the basis of morphology and rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Anamorphic characters were in close agreement with descriptions of Erysiphe trifolii. However, teleomorphs formed chasmothecial appendages with highly branched apices, whereas E. trifolii has been described as producing flexuous or sometimes loosely branched appendages. Branched appendages have been described in Erysiphe diffusa, a fungus reported from species of Lens, Glycine, and Sophora, raising the possibility that the PNW fungus could be E. diffusa. Examination of morphological characters of an authentic specimen of E. trifolii from Austria determined that it included chasmothecial appendages resembling those seen in PNW specimens. Furthermore, ITS sequences from five powdery mildew samples collected from lentils in PNW greenhouses and fields from 2006 to 2008 were identical to one another, and exhibited higher similarity to sequences of E. trifolii (99%) than to those of any other Erysiphe spp. available in GenBank. Parsimony analysis grouped the lentil powdery mildew into a clade with Erysiphe baeumleri, E. trifolii, and E. trifolii–like Oidium sp., but indicated a more distant relationship to E. diffusa. In greenhouse inoculation studies, the lentil powdery mildew fungus did not infect soybean genotypes known to be susceptible to E. diffusa. The pathogenicity of E. trifolii on lentil was confirmed using modified Koch's postulates. This is the first report of E. trifolii infecting lentil. E. diffusa and E. trifolii have different host ranges, so the discovery of E. trifolii on lentil has implications both for determining species of powdery mildews on cool-season grain legumes, and in disease management.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingming Yang ◽  
Linda S Thomashow ◽  
David M Weller

Pseudomonas brassicacearum Q8r1-96 and other 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (DAPG)-producing pseudomonads of the Pseudomonas fluorescens complex possess both biocontrol and growth-promoting properties and play an important role in suppression of take-all of wheat in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States. However, P. brassicacearum can also reduce seed germination and cause root necrosis on some wheat cultivars. We evaluated the effect of Q8r1-96 and DAPG on the germination of 69 wheat cultivars that have been or currently are grown in the PNW. Cultivars varied widely in their ability to tolerate P. brassicacearum or DAPG. The frequency of germination of the cultivars ranged from 0 to 0.87 and from 0.47 to 0.90 when treated with Q8r1-96 and DAPG, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between the frequency of germination of cultivars treated with Q8r1-96 in assays conducted in vitro and in the greenhouse. The correlation was greater for spring than for winter cultivars. In contrast, the effect of Q8r1-96 on seed germination was not correlated with that of DAPG alone, suggesting that DAPG is not the only factor responsible for the phytotoxicity of Q8r1-96. Three wheat cultivars with the greatest tolerance and three cultivars with the least tolerance to Q8r1-96 were tested for their ability to support root colonization by strain Q8r1-96. Cultivars with the greatest tolerance supported significantly greater populations of strain Q8r1-96 than those with the least tolerance to the bacteria. Our results show that wheat cultivars differ widely in their interaction with P. brassicacearum and the biocontrol antibiotic DAPG.


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