Integrating life cycle assessment and forest modelling for environmental and economic assessment of forest based bioenergy in Norway

There is a growing interest in bioenergy, both nationally and internationally, due to the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. The Norwegian forest growing stock is increasing and can be used to produce a range of products which can replace fossil resources. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases and the forest plays an important role in the carbon cycle; potentially acting as both source and sink of CO2. Reflection of incoming solar radiation (albedo) is, together with carbon sequestration, one of the most important climate mitigation factor in boreal forest that can be influenced by forest management. This study explores environmental and economic consequences of bioenergy and other wood-based products from Norwegian forest resources. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied in order to map the environmental impacts of wood use. Traditional LCA lacks time and space considerations, and these are important, in particular when assessing potential environmental effects of harvest and use of boreal forest. LCA was combined with a bio-economic forest management model (GAYA-J/LP) in an attempt to overcome these shortcomings and obtain a link to economic aspects of forest managed for climate change mitigation