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A Case Study on the Impact of Transportation of Mass Timber Products on the Cradle-to-Gate LCA Results for an Institutional Building

Mass timber products (MTPs) are being adopted in new building constructions and remodels in the last three decades, credited to their renewable and low carbon footprint characteristics. However, there are no mass timber manufacturers currently existing in Atlantic Canada. Extended distances of transporting MTPs to this region from other Canadian provinces may sacrifice the environmental benefits of using MTPs. This study was aimed to understand, via conducting a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA), the environmental impacts of a mid-rise institutional building, which is located in the Province of New Brunswick Canada. By comparing the current steel frame design of this building with an alternative mass timber building design with the same height range and function including the transportations of major building materials. It was found that the mass timber building design could still have environmental advantages over the steel structure, as much as 19.5% lower global warming impact and 16.8% lower ozone depletion impact, even with MTPs delivered from the furthest location considered in this study. However, the disadvantages in other impact categories, such as 31.9% higher smog impact, 13.6% higher acidification impact, and 248.2% higher eutrophication impact were found when using the TRACI impact assessment in this whole building LCA study.