Forest products in construction: a comparative life cycle assessment of an Italian case study

Abstract

This work aims to investigate the environmental consequences of using forest products as a replacement for conventional construction materials. A cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out to compare a semi-detached timber house located in Italy versus an equivalent building with conventional construction technologies (concrete and bricks). As a result, most of the ReCiPe environmental indicators resulted more favorable for timber alternative, which is mainly connected to replacing the reinforced concrete volume in the structure, while the pressure on the land resulted as a critical consequence for timber alternative.