Hello,
i am comparing the results of a structure made of wood.
I am surprised looking at the results.
Scenario 0 envisions the wood incineration
Scenario 1 envisions the reuse of wood as material
Scenario 2 envisions the landfill of wood
Why are there the same results?
I expected that reusing wood involves less CO2 emissions.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks in advance.
Hello, thank you for joining the community and for raising this question.
When comparing scenarios for wood at end-of-life—incineration, reuse, and landfill—the results may appear similar due to how biogenic carbon is accounted for in life cycle assessment standards.
Biogenic carbon storage (the CO₂ absorbed by wood during growth) is reported as a negative emission in A1-A3 (product stage), and the release of this carbon is reported in the end-of-life modules (C3 for incineration, C4 for landfill).
If wood is reused as material, the biogenic carbon remains stored and is not released in the current system boundary. If it is incinerated or landfilled, the stored carbon is released as CO₂ or methane, and this is reported in the respective modules.
The total global warming potential (GWP) over the whole life cycle remains the same, as the negative emissions in A1-A3 are balanced by positive emissions at end-of-life, regardless of the scenario. This is why you may see similar results for reuse and landfill scenarios.
The key point is that, according to EN15804 and related standards, the timing and module of carbon release changes, but the total GWP does not, unless the wood remains undegraded in landfill for over 100 years, in which case the carbon is considered permanently stored.
I hope this helps!
