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Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts has released the following statement on Laminated Veneer Lumber on 03 Jun 2009:
Engineered wood product Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) can reduce the impact on global warming when used in place of steel and will also save on overall project costs. The Rotorua-based Crown Research Institute Scion has just completed a streamlined independent environmental study for Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts.
This study compared the design of an 1800m2 warehouse made using LVL wood products with one constructed of steel. The research confirms that LVL reduces the impact on global warming by up to 56% as compared to steel.
Analysis of pricing supplied by Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts, confirms LVL also provides significant cost savings compared to steel.
CHH Woodproducts LVL products hySPAN, hyJOIST, and hyCHORD have the strength characteristics required to replace steel in long-span systems such as warehouses, school gymnasiums and community halls. CHH Woodproducts manufactures LVL here in New Zealand from sustainably grown Radiata pine logs and can supply FSC certification on request.
“This study is extremely compelling,” says Bill Hayward, of Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts.
“It is widely known that portal frames constructed from LVL have better fire resistance than unprotected steel, but now this independent study demonstrates that as well as costing less, LVL emits far less greenhouse gases in comparable applications,” says Hayward.
The study uses the accepted ISO Life Cycle Assessment methodology to compare identical 1800m2 warehouses – one with an LVL Portal Frame, the other steel, both designed to bear the same loads. The research includes a full life cycle scenario (based on production data provided by CHH Woodproducts) including assumptions of landfilling for the LVL materials, and steel recycling.
“The fact that the study was conducted by Scion -an independent research body that has been at the forefront of this type of research in New Zealand – only adds to the validity and credibility of the result. The advantage of Scion using an internationally accepted method is that everything is counted, making it a true comparison. When you take the end of life scenario into account, using LVL in place of steel saves nearly half the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the manufacture of equivalent new steel,” says Hayward.
The results come on the back of previous New Zealand and international Life Cycle Assessment studies that demonstrate wood’s environmental attributes in different building situations.
The cost saving from using LVL products in place of steel in this type of building is significant – up to 9% in total costs can be saved when the completed structures are compared – and likely to grow as the cost of energy-intensive steel rises over time.
“Today steel prices are low as global demand is extremely weak. Once demand returns it is hard to see that steel prices won’t return to the giddy heights of 2007. With that in mind and the pressing need to find building systems that perform better environmentally, it is an added bonus that a mix of hySPAN, hyJOIST, and hyCHORD LVL products made out of New Zealand plantation pine will provide a cost saving for the building project too.”
ENDS
