Source: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON submitted to NRP
MARKET AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER PRODUCTION IN THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA: MID-RISE NON-RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION APPLICATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
MCINTIRE-STENNIS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1006435
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 16, 2015
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE
SEATTLE,WA 98195
Performing Department
Sustainable Resource Management
Non Technical Summary
Cross-laminated timber (CLT), a new generation of engineered wood product, has been gaining popularity in low to mid-rise residential and non-residential construction in several countries, including Europe and Canada. CLT is a cost competitive and wood based solution that is a suitable substitute for construction applications that currently use concrete, masonry and steel. The proposed research aims at developing a comprehensive market feasibility assessment for manufacturing CLT in the Olympic Peninsula with a focus on the mid-rise nonresidential green building industry in the Pacific Northwest. The project aims to explore economic avenues for increasing forest resource utilization while developing a regional forest industry on the Olympic Peninsula.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60306803010100%
Knowledge Area
603 - Market Economics;

Subject Of Investigation
0680 - Other products of the forest;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The specific objectives of the project are to: (i) develop a viable architectural model of mid-rise non-residential building with different levels of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) use, (ii) develop comparative cradle-to-gate life cycle assessments (LCA) of the structure using traditional materials and varying levels of CLT, (iii) develop comparative cost assessments associated with substituting traditional building materials with CLT and demand estimates of CLT construction in the Pacific Northwest region, and (iv) develop a market estimate of regional forest resource utilization (lumber species and grade) based on the CLT end use demand.
Project Methods
Objective-I: develop a viable architectural model of mid-rise non-residential building with different levels of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT)useWe will ensure that the prototype is representative of regional development norms. We will define a generic 'baseline' buildingthat includes a minimum of a structural core and exterior envelope ('core and shell').We will define at least three levels of substitution from a basic level of substitution of CLT for more conventional materials from minimal to more comprehensive.We will utilize existing whole building LCA software, andcreate LCAs for both the baseline building and the CLT alternates.We will integrate the regionally specific CLT LCA data into these models.The data from these studies can also be integrated into more detailed LCA studies using customizable LCA tools.Objective-II: develop comparative cradle-to-gate life cycle assessments (LCA) of the structure using traditional materials and varying levels of CLTWe will: (a) modify the existing CLT LCA to make it specific to the Olympic Peninsula; and (b) develop the spectrum of whole building LCA's for the scenarios developed in objective 1.Task A:We will undertake an environmental footprint analysis of the upstream forestry activities based on key life cycle datasets and identify key opportunities for future performance improvements.The analysis will be based on a review of data from key life cycle inventory databases.Task B: Whole building environmental footprinting (LCA based) is a method of quantifying the environmental impact that can be attributed to processes such as material manufacturing, transportation, energy generation and waste disposal over the life cycle of a product (including materials, building products and buildings themselves) from cradle-to-grave. Green building programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED V4 rating system, the Living Building Challenge and the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) have included whole building LCAs as a method to evaluate the environmental impact of buildings. These programs provide varying levels of guidance on how to perform the requested LCA and all require significant interpretation in order to implement. While the number and type of LCA tools designed for architects and engineers to use in developing whole building LCAs is expanding, these tools do not yet include the regionally specific LCA data for innovative wood products such as CLT that this project will develop.Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators to be considered in this research: Impact indicators used for environmental footprinting can be broadly divided into indicators related to pollutant emissions and resource use.In a recent review of green building codes and standards, Grann (2014b) noted that impact indicators proposed by the European Commission's (2013) environmental and organizational footprinting guidelines are broad compared to the spectrum of metrics currently required in key green building rating systems, standards, and codes.A narrow spectrum of impact indicators are currently adopted in green building codes and standards. In this research we will consider a broader array of indicators as we believe that it is important to monitor all these indicators to evaluate the potential future risks associated with environmental performance.Objective-III: develop comparative cost assessments associated with substituting traditional building materials with CLT and demand estimates of CLT construction in the PNW region Two aspects of CLT cost estimates will be conducted in this research, (i) an estimate of the range of factory price of CLT lumber at two/three potential manufacturing locations on the Olympic Peninsula, and (ii) material based cost estimates (a.k.a. shell cost) of substituting traditional building materials with CLT. The cost of construction will also vary based on the distance of the CLT manufacturing facility to the end-use market.Three urban centers with a high concentration of mid-rise non-residential construction will be considered: Seattle, Tacoma and Portland.Canadian CLT manufacturing facilities, especially those in British Columbia will be studied for developing estimates of ex-factory price of CLT lumber manufactured in the selected locations on Olympic Peninsula. The primary variations applied in these cases will be the raw material transportation costs associated with each of these locations. The second aspect of cost analysis of the research will focus on the shell-cost associated with substituting CLT, manufactured on the Olympic Peninsula, for steel and concrete. The scenarios developed in Objective 1 will be used for all developing for material cost calculations and quantify the savings (if any) associated with using CLT in mid-rise construction. The configurations of wall, roof, floors and partition systems used in these scenarios will be realistic (as per building codes) and will include materials, labor, connections, consturction and insulation. Given the uncertainty associated with unknown secondary factors, a 15% adjustment factor will be applied to CLT shell-cost while making the final cost and savings calculations.'Objective-IV: develop a market estimate of regional forest resource utilization (lumber species and grade) based on the CLT end use demand.Intuitively, the potential marketing strategies associated with CLT may look comparable to that associated with that of glue laminated timber (glulam), however, they are significantly different. The primary advantage of CLT over any other similar engineered wood, including glulam, is the customization aspect of it. Hence, it is safe to discount the mass production strategy for CLT. Production and selling of CLT requires a horizontal diversification at the producing industry in terms of incorporating or integrating an engineering department which itself acquires projects and provides technical support for customers (e.g. architects, structural engineers and builders). Hence, the production of CLT has to be on commission with small batch sizes. Thus, the processes of cutting and joining have to be directly embedded in the overall production process. All the available information point to the fact that only a custom CLT manufacturing facility is worth exploring. Hence, the primary market focus for the study will be exploring the PNW regional urban mid-rise residential construction market. Interviews and meetings will be conducted with various architectural firms to estimate the level of interest in CLT and develop an estimate of regional market penetration.However, the buzz word in business these days is mass-customization. The high international connectivity through internet and advanced web applications has made mass-customization a reality. The mass-customization of performance-based engineered wood building assemblies defines a new state-of-the-art in the design and construction sector. A research initiative at Washington State University proposed high performance hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels to leverage the existing environmental and economic advantages of mass-produced forest products and to position CLT as a preferred mass-customized building assembly material in sync with emerging parametric design and digital fabrication methods (Beyreuther 2014). Moreover, the strategic location of the Olympic Peninsula to the Asian market, especially the Japanese market demands an end-use market investigation of this market. The Japanese market of CLT is the fastest growing market for CLT panels outside Europe. At present Japan imports most of its CLT from Europe. The PNW is ideally located to develop a mass-customized CLT manufacturing industry that can supply both the domestic and the Asian markets. This research will focus its international end-use market development efforts in Japan, in collaboration with Softwood Export Council.

Progress 09/16/15 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:This project is divided into three aspects with three different target audience, which are as follows: Architectural models of hybrid CLT buildings: This aspect of the project deals with development of estimated material quantities of commercial mass timber office buildings will be architects and structural engineers looking to understand the opportunities to develop efficient wood framed structures and scientists and policy makers interested in understanding the potential environmental benefit of building taller mass timber structures. The environmental assessment of CLT manufacturing in the US-PNW region: the target audience for this section is the wood products industry, specifically, the group in charge of North American Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). This data can be used by various environmental groups, like Forterra, interested in understanding the environmental footprint of CLT. The environmental assessment of CLT buildings: The whole-building environmental footprint analysis will provide the particulars of the environmental benefits associated with building with CLT. This section of the research will inform the green building programs on how they can incorporate aspects of LCA (life cycle assessment) analysis associated with building materials and whole building LCAs. This study will be able to provide valuable information to green building programs to help them establish wood-based green building points decisions. The policy makers and the environmental NGOs are also target audiences for this aspects of the study. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Zeke Jones BArch- Learned about exterior building construction systems and life cycle assessment. Kristen Strobel, March- Learned parametric structural design methods and structural design criteria for mass timber construction. Barbara Rodriguez, PhD Student- Learned to evaluate structural framing plans and understand conventional construction methods in mass timber construction. Monica Huang, temporary staff/research assistance- Learned to interpret results of parametric structural design methods and evaluate mass timber structural systems. Cindy Chen- Learned about the potential production, production processes and life cycle assessment of CLT. Olivia Jacobs- Learned about life cycle assessment of wood products and whole buildings Francesca Pierobon- Learned about the developing overall impact of whole buildings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? As noted above, at conference presentations. Additionally, participated in reviews of student's architectural design work using mass timber and provided technical input informed by this research. Met with the non-profit Forterra, the architectural team and owner's representative for a proposed wood framed office building for Microsoft and shared the findings of this research. We shared the data and the analysis with USFS forest products lab for use in their model. We helped update components of the Athena whole building LCA software. We shared the findings with the Architects and researchers in Seattle area. We also shared our data with the Oregon department of commerce researchers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Estimating Structural Material Quantities: A parametric model was created to analyze the floor framing of a mass timber office building and tested over a range of potential configurations to identify trends. The preliminary schematic design for a prototype building was developed using standard engineering practices to compare with the parametric model. Structural material quantities (median/most likely as well as likely minimum and maximum) for floor assemblies determined. Estimating Exterior Envelope/Façade Material Quantities: Prototypical façade systems were developed to capture the range of standard practice. Material quantities of façade systems estimated in order to develop comprehensive material quantities estimates for the prototype building. Field visit to DR Johnson (the first CLT manufacturing facility in the US that os certified to supply CLT for building construction applications) on April 22, 2016 to collect primary data for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of CLT. Estimating the life cycle environmental impacts: Based on the primary data collected at DR Johnson, an LCA was performed for the CTL production phase. The data about the material quantities, developed using the parametric model, are being incorporated in the LCA of the prototype CLT building. Evaluation of the overall carbon foorprint of a traditional building vs a CLT building.

Publications


    Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

    Outputs
    Target Audience:This project is divided into three aspects with three different target audience, which are as follows: Architectural models of hybrid CLT buildings: This aspect of the project deals with development of estimated material quantities of commercial mass timber office buildings will be architects and structural engineers looking to understand the opportunities to develop efficient wood framed structures and scientists and policy makers interested in understanding the potential environmental benefit of building taller mass timber structures. The environmental assessment of CLT manufacturing in the US-PNW region: the target audience for this section is the wood products industry, specifically, the group in charge of North American Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). This data can be used by various environmental groups, like Forterra, interested in understanding the environmental footprint of CLT. The environmental assessment of CLT buildings: The whole-building environmental footprint analysis will provide the particulars of the environmental benefits associated with building with CLT. This section of the research will inform the green building programs on how they can incorporate aspects of LCA (life cycle assessment) analysis associated with building materials and whole building LCAs. This study will be able to provide valuable information to green building programs to help them establish wood-based green building points decisions. The policy makers and the environmental NGOs are also target audiences for this aspects of the study. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Kristen Strobel, March- Learned parametric structural design methods and structural design criteria for mass timber construction. Barbara Rodriguez, PhD Student- Learned to evaluate structural framing plans and understand conventional construction methods in mass timber construction. Monica Huang, temporary staff/research assistance- Learned to interpret results of parametric structural design methods and evaluate mass timber structural systems. Cindy Chen- Learned about the potential production, production processes and life cycle assessment of CLT. Olivia Jacobs- Learned about life cycle assessment of wood products and whole buildings Francesca Pierobon- Learned about the developing overall impact of whole buildings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As noted above, at conference presentations. Additionally, participated in reviews of student's architectural design work using mass timber and provided technical input informed by this research. Met with the non-profit Forterra, the architectural team and owner's representative for a proposed wood framed office building for Microsoft to share the preliminary findings of this research and explore the potential benefits of using mass timber construction in novel ways. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Submitting the publications under process

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Estimating the life cycle environmental impacts: Based on the primary data collected at DR Johnson, an LCA was performed for the CTL production phase. The data about the material quantities, developed using the parametric model, are being incorporated in the LCA of the prototype CLT building. Evaluation of the overall carbon foorprint of a traditional building vs a CLT building.

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Pierobon, Ganguly et al. "Variations in mid-rise hybrid CLT constructions: comparative Life Cycle Assessment of CLT vs traditional buildings". Mass Timber Conference, Portland, OR, March 20-22, 2018.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Chen, Pierobon and Ganguly, Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment of CLT Production in Western Washington, IUFRO June 2017, Vancouver BC, Canada
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Pierobon, Ganguly et al. (under review) "Life Cycle Assessment of a Cross Laminated Timber mid-rise commercial building in the U.S. Pacific Northwest" Building and Environment
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Simonen, Huang, et al. (under review). Evaluating Design Strategies and Environmental Impacts in Optimized Mass Timber Buildings, ASCE Journal of Architectural Engineering
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Simonen, Huang, et al. (under review). Reference Buildings for Mid-Rise Mass Timber Office Buildings, Journal of Building and Environment


    Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

    Outputs
    Target Audience:This project is divided into two aspects with two different target audiences, which are as follows: Architectural models of hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings: This aspect of the project deals with development of estimated material quantities of commercial mass timber office buildings will be architects and structural engineers looking to understand the opportunities to develop efficient wood framed structures and scientists and policy makers interested in understanding the potential environmental benefit of building taller mass timber structures. The environmental assessment of CLT buildings: The whole-building environmental footprint analysis will provide the particulars of the environmental benefits associated with building with CLT. This section of the research will inform the green building programs on how they can incorporate aspects of LCA (life cycle assessment) analysis associated with building materials and whole building LCAs. This study will be able to provide valuable information to green building programs to help them establish wood-based green building points decisions. The policy makers and the environmental nongovernmental organizations are also target audiences for this aspects of the study. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Undergraduate students learned about exterior building construction systems and life cycle assessment. Graduate students: learned parametric structural design methods and structural design criteria for mass timber construction. learned to evaluate structural framing plans and understand conventional construction methods in mass timber construction. learned about the potential production, production processes and life cycle assessment of cross-laminated timber. A temporary staff/research assistant learned to interpret results of parametric structural design methods and evaluate mass timber structural systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Outreach has been disseminated, as noted above, at conference presentations. Additionally, the PIs participated in reviews of student's architectural design work using mass timber and provided technical input informed by this research. We met with the non-profit Forterra, the architectural team, and owner's representative for a proposed wood-framed office building for Microsoft to share the preliminary findings of this research and explore the potential benefits of using mass timber construction in novel ways. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will: Finalize the report of material quantities and preliminary life cycle assessment (LCA). Analyze the findings and prepare for publication. Present at events such as Seattle's Go-Green: The Sustainability Conference for Business and Government. Finalize the LCA for the prototype cross-laminated timber (CLT) building by incorporating the final data about material quantities resulting from the parametric model. Calculate the carbon storage of CLT buildings. Present the results at the IUFRO Division 5 Conference 2017: Forest Sector Innovations for a Greener Future, Special Session 5.12 Sustainable Utilization of Forest Products, Vancouver, June 12-16, 2017.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Estimating Structural Material Quantities: A parametric model was created to analyze the floor framing of a mass timber office building and tested over a range of potential configurations to identify trends. The preliminary schematic design for a prototype building was developed using standard engineering practices to compare with the parametric model. Structural material quantities (median/most likely as well as likely minimum and maximum) for floor assemblies determined. Estimating Exterior Envelope/Façade Material Quantities: Prototypical façade systems were developed to capture the range of standard practice. Material quantities of façade systems estimated in order to develop comprehensive material quantities estimates for the prototype building. Field visit to DR Johnson (the first cross-laminated timber [CLT] manufacturing facility in the US that os certified to supply CLT for building construction applications) on April 22, 2016 to collect primary data for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of CLT. Estimating the life cycle environmental impacts: Based on the primary data collected at DR Johnson, an LCA was performed for the CTL production phase. The data about the material quantities, developed using the parametric model, are being incorporated in the LCA of the prototype CLT building.

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Optimizing Mass Timber: Structural and Environmental Performance, Mass Timber Conference, Portland, OR, March 23, 2016.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Mass Timber: Mass Timber: Design, Fabrication, Education, ACSA 2016 Conference Special Focus Session, Seattle, WA, March 20, 2016.
    • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Kristen Strobel, "(Mass) Timber: Structurally Optimized Timber Buildings," Thesis submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture, University of Washington, 2016.