Worldwide there is an increasing demand of natural resources. In future, non renewable resources get substituted by renewable resources in the energetic sector as well as in the material sector. That implies a stronger usage of renewable resources especially - wood. In 2009 there was a usage of 77 million cubic meters of wood for material applications and a quantity of 55 million cubic meters for energetic applications in Germany alone. Furthermore, there is an increasing demand on wood for energetic purposes. In 2007 this problematic development led to the first supply bottlenecks. To meet the increasing demands of the future, Short Rotation Coppices (SRC) can help to improve the wood provision. An SRC is a planting of fast growing coppice on agricultural areas, which is managed more intensively than usual forestry practices for a quicker production of wooden biomass. With a comparative LCA of conventional wood and wood from SRC the present study evaluates if wood from SRC is reasonable to cover the increasing demand of wood for material and energetic purposes in an environmental friendly way. A comprehensive literature research regarding LCAs of wood and wooden products shows that there are no previous studies comparing the two types of wood. Hence, the present study examines a particleboard production as the material scenario and the combustion of woodchips in a firing system as the energetic scenario to compare the ecological advantages and disadvantages of wood from SRC and conventional wood. The LCA is implemented with the Gabi software designed by PE International. Data is obtained from previous LCA studies evaluating the production of wood, the particleboard production and the combustion of wood. Additionally, data from the Ecoinvent database is used. Functional units are the production of 1m3 particleboard and the production of 1 MJ of thermal energy. The LCIA is implemented with the “Ecoindicator” as endpoint- and “CML 2001” as midpoint approach to cover broad range of environmental issues. Moreover a sensitivity analyses shows the impact of decisive variables on the results of “Ecoindicator” and “CML 2001”. Results reveal that outcomes of the LCIA are dependent of the assessment method and the processed part of trees from conventional forestry. The present study shows, that with an efficient land use, wood from SRC can help to cover the increasing demand of wood for material and energetic purposes in a sustainable way. However, an immediate usage of wood for energetic purposes has to be seen critical. Instead, a cascaded and sustainable utilization of wood is recommendable to counteract climate change and to improve the efficient use of the renew-able resource - “wood”.

Worldwide there is an increasing demand of natural resources. In future, non renewable resources get substituted by renewable resources in the energetic sector as well as in the material sector. That implies a stronger usage of renewable resources especially - wood. In 2009 there was a usage of 77 million cubic meters of wood for material applications and a quantity of 55 million cubic meters for energetic applications in Germany alone. Furthermore, there is an increasing demand on wood for energetic purposes. In 2007 this problematic development led to the first supply bottlenecks. To meet the increasing demands of the future, Short Rotation Coppices (SRC) can help to improve the wood provision. An SRC is a planting of fast growing coppice on agricultural areas, which is managed more intensively than usual forestry practices for a quicker production of wooden biomass. With a comparative LCA of conventional wood and wood from SRC the present study evaluates if wood from SRC is reasonable to cover the increasing demand of wood for material and energetic purposes in an environmental friendly way. A comprehensive literature research regarding LCAs of wood and wooden products shows that there are no previous studies comparing the two types of wood. Hence, the present study examines a particleboard production as the material scenario and the combustion of woodchips in a firing system as the energetic scenario to compare the ecological advantages and disadvantages of wood from SRC and conventional wood. The LCA is implemented with the Gabi software designed by PE International. Data is obtained from previous LCA studies evaluating the production of wood, the particleboard production and the combustion of wood. Additionally, data from the Ecoinvent database is used. Functional units are the production of 1m3 particleboard and the production of 1 MJ of thermal energy. The LCIA is implemented with the “Ecoindicator” as endpoint- and “CML 2001” as midpoint approach to cover broad range of environmental issues. Moreover a sensitivity analyses shows the impact of decisive variables on the results of “Ecoindicator” and “CML 2001”. Results reveal that outcomes of the LCIA are dependent of the assessment method and the processed part of trees from conventional forestry. The present study shows, that with an efficient land use, wood from SRC can help to cover the increasing demand of wood for material and energetic purposes in a sustainable way. However, an immediate usage of wood for energetic purposes has to be seen critical. Instead, a cascaded and sustainable utilization of wood is recommendable to counteract climate change and to improve the efficient use of the renew-able resource - “wood”.