CASE ANALYSIS

Case Analysis

Case Analysis

In this paper we will analyze the case study of Windhorse Farm's Eco-Woodshop Guitar Top Decision by Julia Sagebien and Annika Tamiyn. This case study is about environment and eco-friendly products especially made with wood. We will discuss ecological comparisons between products from wood as the major raw material and those from other materials. The selection of products to be compared is related to housing and other buildings. The study covers four product groups: single-family houses, large buildings, window frames and flooring materials. The results obtained show only a very general view of the ecological behaviour of the products concerned.

Julia and Annika describes, the environmental impact categories taken into account are "Global Warming Potential", "Acidification Potential", "Eutrophication Potential" and "Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential". There are also other important impact categories such as human toxicity, eco-toxicity and resource depletion that have not been included in this study. Regarding the resource availability/depletion, a brief description is given in section "Resources availability".

It is important to mention that some discussion in the case study only give the energy consumption and material input, e.g. Damberger study (1995), whereas some others show only the energy input, e.g. Forintek Canada Corporation 1991, Baier (1982) quoted from Burschel et al. (1993) and BM-BAU (1993). For this reason, data on LCI, particularly material input, are not found for sheds and three-storey buildings, but are found for other groups in this report.

The product groups used in this study are eco-wood guitars, window frames and flooring materials and, within a product group, LCA have the same goal and scope. However, different product groups might have different definitions of goals and scopes and, therefore, results of LCA can only be compared for products within one of the above-defined product groups. In any case, goals and scopes as defined in the original reports will have to be considered.

Finally, one has to distinguish between products made of solid wood and those made of a combination of wood and other materials. Wood flooring, parquet, window frames, blockhouse and three-storey building made of solid wood are wood products. Other materials used for their manufacture or construction can be specified as more or less supporting materials. On the other hand, the timber-frame house and the wooden window are not pure wood products because besides wood other component materials are also quantitatively important. The products investigated in this study are specified as follows:

• Non-wood products: Products that do not contain wood as raw material but perhaps as a supporting material which is quantitatively unimportant.

• Mixed products: Products that contain various raw materials of which wood is quantitatively an important part.

• Wood products: Products that contain wood as raw material.

Supporting wood materials in non-wood products are not considered to be recycled or thermally utilized. They are also not included in the CO2-related aspects.

Generally, there are renewable and non-renewable resources and wood belongs to renewable materials, whereas fossil fuels are amongst the non-renewable materials. Based on the principles of sustainability, it is possible to produce wood as biomass ...