W.-R. Poganietz

The utilization of light weight boards for reducing air emissions by the German wood industry – a perspective?

BackgroundResource saving product development is one competitive advantage for companies. Forestbased industries try to realize this amongst others with lightweight board solutions.Using lightweight boards is discussed in the wood industry for several years and could be technically realized nowadays on an industrial scale. Advantages by using lightweight boards are expected in costs due to reduced wood requirements as well as in respect to logistics. In discussion are potential environmental advantages of an enhanced use of lightweight boards.The objective of the paper is to identify and quantify the environmental impacts due to an increased use of lightweight boards in the furniture industry. The focus rests on the so-called Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions, NMVOC and formaldehyde.ResultsThe study grounds on a process-based material flow model, which depicts the use of forest resources in Germany. The situation in 2005 is compared with a scenario, which describes a partial substitution of conventional boards by lightweight boards using sandwich design.Overall the greenhouse gas emissions will decrease, even though the overall decline is rather small.ConclusionsBy this lightweight boards could be a perspective for the German wood-industry to reduce emissions into air noteworthy. The main causes are a reduced requirement for adhesives and binders, logistics and thermal use of residuals.ZusammenfassungBackgroundRessourcenschonende Produktentwicklungen sind ein entscheidender Wettbewerbsvorteil für Unternehmen. In der Holzindustrie wird dies u.a. mit Leichtbauplatten verfolgt.Der Einsatz leichter Holzwerkstoffplatten wird seit Jahren in der Holzindustrie diskutiert und ist heute technisch ausgereift. Erwartet werden unternehmensabhängig Kostenvorteile durch einen geringeren Holzeinsatz, aber auch Vorteile in der Logistik. Offen ist, welche ökologischen Konsequenzen, ggf. Vorteile mit dem Einsatz von Leichtbauplatten verbunden sind.Das Ziel des Beitrags ist die Identifikation und die Quantifizierung der ökologischen Wirkungen eines verstärkten Einsatzes von Leichtbauplatten in der Holzindustrie. Hierbei konzentriert sich der Beitrag auf die im Kioto-Protokoll reglementierten Treibhausgase, sowie NMVOCs und Formaldehyd.ResultsFür die Analyse wird mit Hilfe eines prozessbasierten Materialflussmodells, welches die Nutzung forstlicher Ressourcen in Deutschland abbildet, die Situation in 2005 als Referenz mit einem Szenario verglichen, in dem Spanplatten partiell durch Leichtbauplatten in Sandwichbauweise substituiert werden.Im Ergebnis sinken die Treibhausgasemissionen durchgängig, wenn die Minderungen auch gering ausfallen.ConclusionsDamit stellen leichte Holzwerkstoffplatten für die deutsche Holzindustrie eine Perspektive, ihre Luftemissionen zu senken. Die Ursachen für die Senkungen sind zu wesentlichen Teilen im Bereich der Klebstoffe und Bindemittel, der Logistik und der thermischen Nutzung von Produktionsresten zu finden.

Anthropogenic Carbon Stock Dynamics of Pulp and Paper Products in Germany

Carbon‐based materials (CBMs) for energetic and material purposes combine biogenic and anthropogenic carbon cycles. In the latter, numerous manufactured products with various in‐use lifespans accumulate as anthropogenic carbon stocks. Understanding the behavior of these stocks is an important requirement to estimate not only future waste amounts, source for secondary raw materials, but also the impacts and effects in carbon emissions and carbon management. Previous models have estimated material stock changes; however, a lack of research in carbon stocks is perceived. Moreover, studies follow in‐use lifespan estimation approaches, such as decay functions, which do not coincide with observed consumption and waste treatment patterns. In the first part of this article, we present a carbon stock‐flow model to analyze inter‐relationships between carbon flows and stocks from raw materials to waste treatment processes considering a consumer perspective, where the dynamics of anthropogenic carbon stocks are completely described. In the second part, we study the pulp and paper industry in Germany under a scenario approach to analyze the behavior, development, and impacts of paper stocks and flows between 2010 and 2040. The model provided coherent results, with industrial data estimating 33.9 million metric tons in 2010 in paper stocks, equivalent to 410 kilograms per person. Consumption per capita and in‐use lifespan of products were identified as the most significant variables in carbon stock building. Model simulations show a sustained growth in stocks for the next 30 years, with increase in waste and carbon emissions. But in combination with recycling and reuse mechanisms and consumption patterns, environmental impacts are reduced.

Analysis of the energy consumption of private households in Germany using multi-level cross-impact balance approach - Data

Many studies stress the needs of interdependence analysis under the special conditions of multidisciplinary systems that include social systems. This applies, in particular, to scenarios on future energy demand and supply. Using the example of the residential sector in Germany we provide information on factors and their possible outcomes taking multidisciplinary aspects into account. In addition, futures are presented reflecting consistent combinations of the outcomes of the selected factors. These futures can be used as storylines for further analyses (see (S. Vögele, P. Hansen, W-R. Poganietz, S. Prehofer, W. Weimer-Jehle) [1]).

Modelling and Tools Supporting the Transition to a Bioeconomy

The strategy of using biogenic resources in a bioeconomy could be seen as one answer to the geopolitical challenges the world is facing in the twenty-first century. One of those challenges is the closing of the prosperity gap between rich and poor countries. However, considering the current global population growth and anthropogenically induced climate change, it is expected that efforts to achieve this goal will be accompanied by an increasing demand for food, feed, products, and energy, which cannot be satisfied by the expected supply of non-biogenic raw materials and resources.

Technological Innovation and Anthropogenic Material Flows

Throughout its history, humankind has made use of the earth’s natural resources. Humans have done this not only in the very basic sense as food for mere survival, but as a means of handicraft, industry, and cultural techniques that have shaped human society. The exploitation and use of resources depend on the available technology and on society’s stage of development. Technological progress and societal progress have always been closely interconnected, one enabling the other. Today the standard of living and social welfare in the most developed countries have reached a level that is unique in history although large parts of the world’s population still do not participate in the abundance of goods and of welfare.

Alternative Antriebskonzepte bei sich wandelnden Mobilitätsstilen: Tagungsbeiträge vom 08. und 09. März 2012 am KIT, Karlsruhe

In diesem Tagungsband wird die kunftige Mobilitat diskutiert: Wird sie starker von neuen Antriebskonzepten (insbesondere Elektromobilitat und Biokraftstoffe) oder von sich andernden Mobilitatsstilen (Multimodalitat) beeinflusst? Werden wir eine breit akzeptierte integrierte multimodale Mobilitat haben und wann? Der Tagungsband gibt mogliche Einschatzungen aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen.

Analyse des Aluminiumstoffstroms — Potenziale zur Reduktion des Ressourcenbedarfs und der Umweltinanspruchnahme

Die Analyse von Metallstoffstromen, insbesondere des Aluminiumstoffstroms, nimmt in der Diskussion zum Stoffstrommanagement breiten Raum ein. Ursache hierfur sind nicht wie bei einigen anderen Metallen durch Aluminium ausgeloste human-und okotoxikologische Effekte, sondern die durch Herstellung und Nutzung des Werkstoffs ausgelosten direkten und induzierten Stoffstrome. Darunter fallen z.B. Bauxit, Energie und Wasser.