Quantitative assessment of the embodied environmental impact of wood products

To find environmental friendly construction material,the embodied environmental profiles of timber,glulam,and oriented strand board(OSB) were analyzed using the life cycle assessment method and industry investigation.The results show that OSB has the most embodied environmental burden and the largest consumption of non-renewable resources,while glulam has less and timber has the least per cubic meter.The environmental impacts of three kinds of bending members(sawn timber beam,glulam beam,I-joist) were also evaluated and compared.The results show that timber beams have the most embodied environmental burden while glulam beams have less,and I-joists have the least.Thus,material is best used in I-joists.These results provide basic data to assess the life cycle environmental impact of construction projects using wood products.