Alexander Kaulen, Benjamin Engler, Thomas Purfürst. (2024). Net carbon storage of supplied timber in highly mechanized timber harvest. Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 4 article id 24011. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.24011

Keywords: carbon balance; emissions; forest machine data; forestry technique; timber supply chain; traceability

Highlights: CO₂ emissions from timber supply comprise only 1.5–5% of the CO₂ stored in wood; Distance to the mill has the greatest influence on CO₂ emissions; Successful application by combining a few variable parameters from forest machine data with constant parameters to create a net carbon storage of the supplied timber; Simple presentation of the net CO₂ storage capacity of wood can influence policy positively.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Highly mechanized timber harvesting and timber logistics emit CO₂. In turn, the provided timber stores CO₂ from the atmosphere as biogenic carbon. This basic assumption resulted in the calculation of net carbon storage of supplied timber. For this, we first developed a formula that represents the carbon content of freshly harvested timber. Coniferous wood contains about 734 kg CO₂ m^-3 and deciduous wood about 1000 CO₂ m^-3. Contrary to this, CO₂ emissions from trucks, harvesters, and forwarders were calculated using the variable parameters for actual diesel consumption and the distance to the sawmill and constant parameters for the transport of the machine to the stand, lubricants, transport of operators, loading, and fabrication, supply, and maintenance. The method was tested on an actual harvest. The principal findings are that the method is practical, the net carbon storage of the supplied timber is reduced by 1.5% to 5% by harvesting and transport activities, and timber logistics is the largest contributor to emissions. The CO₂ emissions for harvesters and forwarders are about 4 kg CO₂ m^-3, and for downstream timber logistics across all assortments and distances is 11 kg CO₂ m^-3. We conclude that the emissions are low, vis-a-vis the storage capacity. Emissions and a standardized calculation model are imperative. The model developed here for mapping the net carbon storage of roundwood highlights the climate protection performance of timber and contributes to optimizing climate-friendly timber supply chains.

Kaulen, KWF - Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik e.V., Spremberger Straße 1, 64823 Groß-Umstadt, Germany; University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2633-8132 E-mail: alexander.kaulen@kwf-online.de
Engler, University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2104-8209 E-mail: benjamin.engler@foresteng.uni-freiburg.de
Purfürst, University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9661-0193 E-mail: thomas.purfuerst@foresteng.uni-freiburg.de

Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.

If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.

Contents alert

Your selected articles

Follow @SilvaFennica