Life Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Prefinished Engineered Wood Flooring in Eastern us with Comparsion to Solid Strip Wood Flooring

Building products have come under increased scrutiny because of environmental impacts from their manufacture. Our study followed the life cycle inventory approach for prefinished engineered wood flooring in the eastern US and compared the results with those of solid strip wood flooring. Our study surveyed five engineered wood flooring manufacturers in the eastern US. These production facilities represented 18.7% of total annual production in 2007. Primary data collected for 2007 included annual production, energy consumption and type, material inputs, emission data, product outputs, and other coproducts. Modeling data estimated biogenic and fossil CO2 emissions at 623 and 1050 kg/m3, respectively, and volatile organic compounds at 1.04 kg/m3. Cumulative allocated energy consumption for prefinished engineered wood flooring was 23.0 GJ/m3 with 40% coming from coal. Unfinished solid strip flooring cumulative energy consumption was only 6.50 GJ/m3 with 65% from biomass, roughly half that of unfinished engineered wood flooring. However, after converting to an area (in-use) basis, unfinished engineered wood flooring consumed 136 MJ/m2 compared with 123 MJ/m2 for unfinished solid strip flooring. After changing to an in-use parameter, the two wood flooring products were similar in energy consumption during manufacturing, but engineered wood flooring still consumed significantly more fossil fuel

Environmental Impact of Producing Hardwood Lumber Using Life-Cycle Inventory

Using sustainable building materials is gaining a significant presence in the US. This study examined hardwood lumber manufacturing using life-cycle inventory methodology. Material flow and energy use were identified for hardwood sawmills in northeastern US. A hardwood log volume conversion of 43.7% to planed dry lumber was found. Values of 608 MJ/m3 of electrical and 5800 MJ/m3 of thermal energy were determined for the manufacturing of planed dry hardwood lumber where mostly green wood residues were burned on-site for energy. Emission data produced from modeling estimated biomass and fossil CO2 production of 428 and 139 kg/m3, respectively. Increasing wood fuel use, a carbon-neutral process, would lower the environmental impact of hardwood lumber manufacturing and increase its use as a green building material

Ariel - Volume 1 Number 1

Copyright 1969 Arie

Life-Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Hardwood Lumber in Southeastern US

Environmental impacts associated with the building industry have become of increasing importance. Materials and energy consumed during manufacture of building materials such as lumber affect a building's environmental performance. This study determined environmental impacts of manufacturing hardwood lumber in the southeastern US using the life-cycle inventory method. Primary data were collected and then weight-averaged on a per-unit basis of 1.0 m3 of planed dry lumber (600 oven-dry kg/m3) to find material flows and energy use. Cumulative allocated energy consumption for manufacturing 1.0 m3 planed dry lumber from 2.44 m3 of incoming logs was 5.86 GJ/m3 with 66% from wood fuel. Emission data produced through modeling estimated total biomass and fossil carbon dioxide production of 424 and 131 kg/m3, respectively, considering all impacts. A cubic meter of planed dry hardwood lumber stores 1.17 Mg CO2 equivalents as a final product. The amount of carbon stored in hardwood lumber exceeds fossil carbon emissions by a factor of nine. Therefore, as long as hardwood lumber and its carbon stay in products held in end uses, carbon stored will exceed fossil carbon emitted in manufacturing

Ariel - Volume 2 Number 1

Editors Delvun C. Case, Jr. Paul M. Fernhoff Associate Editors Donald Bergman Daniel B. Gould Richard Bonanno Ronald Hoffman Lay-Out Editor Carol Dolinskas Sports Editor James Nocon Business Manager Nick Grego Contributing Editors Michael J. Blecker Stephen P. Flynn Lin Sey Edwards Jack Guralnik W. Cherry Ligh

OGTT-Derived Measures of Insulin Sensitivity Are Confounded by Factors Other Than Insulin Sensitivity Itself

Insulin resistance is an important risk factor for diabetes and other diseases. It has been important to estimate insulin resistance in epidemiological and genetic studies involving significant number of individuals. Complex and invasive protocols are impractical. Therefore, insulin sensitivity indices based on the oral glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) have been introduced. The aim of the present study was to assess the accuracy with which OGTT-derived indices would reflect changes in insulin sensitivity in the face of changes in other factors, such as rate of glucose absorption and/or B-cell function. A computer model was employed to predict excursions of plasma glucose and insulin after a 75-g oral glucose load. The model was then used to predict changes in these excursions, which would be observed with altered insulin resistance, with alterations in β-cell sensitivity to glucose and/or alterations in glucose absorption rates. Published indices of insulin sensitivity could then be calculated from the predicted curves, to ask whether changes in β-cell function or glucose absorptions rates might be misinterpreted (using the indices) as changes in insulin sensitivity. The model accurately represented OGTT data for a normal glucose tolerant subject, closely matching published data. Imposed 50% reductions or increases in insulin sensitivity alone in the model were reflected in only small changes in OGTT-derived insulin sensitivity values. More important, imposed alterations in β-cell sensitivity and glucose absorption without simulated changes in insulin sensitivity did change insulin sensitivity indices. These results indicate that caution is required for the interpretation of differences in OGTT-derived values of insulin sensitivity, because variation in factors other than insulin sensitivity per se appear to have the greatest effects on indices calculated from the OGTT alone

Inverse association between diabetes and altitude: a cross-sectional study in the adult population of the United States.

ObjectiveTo determine whether geographical elevation is inversely associated with diabetes, while adjusting for multiple risk factors.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional analysis of publicly available online data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2009. Final dataset included 285,196 US adult subjects. Odds ratios were obtained from multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis.ResultsAmong US adults (≥20 years old), the odds ratio for diabetes was 1.00 between 0 and 499 m of altitude (reference), 0.95 (95% confidence interval, 0.90-1.01) between 500 and 1,499 m, and 0.88 (0.81-0.96) between 1,500 and 3,500 m, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, ethnicity, self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption, self-reported physical activity, current smoking status, level of education, income, health status, employment status, and county-level information on migration rate, urbanization, and latitude. The inverse association between altitude and diabetes in the US was found among men [0.84 (0.76-0.94)], but not women [1.09 (0.97-1.22)].ConclusionsAmong US adults, living at high altitude (1,500-3,500 m) is associated with lower odds of having diabetes than living between 0 and 499 m, while adjusting for multiple risk factors. Our findings suggest that geographical elevation may be an important factor linked to diabetes

The Market For Music: Millennials Willingness To Pay For Hostels Offering Music Venues

The objective of this study is to determine market demand among 18-29 year olds for a music hostel tourism package. Furthermore, determining how each respondent fits within social worlds theory categorization lends understanding to how music communities interact. Based on a framework of Social Worlds Theory, a survey was developed to ascertain the demographics and psychographics of the target population as well as their willingness to pay for the proposed tourism package

Carbon stored by furnishing wood-based products: An Italian case study

The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is constantly rising, with severe effects on global climate change. To mitigate impacts of climate change, the role of forest in terms of carbon sequestration are well-known as trees naturally pull CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow. Contrarily, only recently the carbon mitigation value of wood-based products in buildings has been recognized. Buildings are a fundamental sector for wood-based products, both in terms of volume and service life length. In particular, furnishings in housing include high quantities of wood-based products; they are usually made, partly or entirely, by solid wood or by wood-based panels such as plywood, particleboard and medium density fiberboard. These wood furnishings store biogenic carbon during their service life. In this context, the present study investigated the amount of carbon stored by furnishing wood-based products for an apartment in Torino, Italy. The overall amount, determined according to European Standard, resulted in 3531 kg of CO2-equivalents stored. This corresponds to 45,8 kg/m2 of indoor walkable area; simulating lower and higher intensity usages of wood-based products provided carbon storage values of 35,1 and 55,3 kg/m2, respectively. On the whole, the present study gave an order of magnitude of the role played in carbon storage by furnishing wood-based products in building and illustrates their relevance in mitigating climate change