INFLUENCE OF CARBON ACCOUNTING ON ASSESSMENT OF WOOD-BASED PRODUCTS

As the population grows, the number of products and services increases escalating the burden on the environment. Carbon dioxide is the largest contributor to global warming among all greenhouse gases. Life Cycle Assessment defines specific impacts of anthropogenic activities through multiple calculation methods, the majority of which are not identical. Carbon uptake accounting can substantially affect the perception of wood products in the overall assessment. Different approaches to the inclusion of greenhouse gases to global warming and their impact on the production of selected wood-based products - glued laminated timber, dimensional timber, solid structural timber, oriented strand board, particleboard, and light, medium and high-density fibreboard are shown in the paper. Dimensional timber achieved the lowest emissions proving the easier the manufacture the least the product burdens the environment. However, glulam seems to be the best carbon sink when carbon uptake is taken into account. Fibreboards were ranked the worst by the majority of methods.