Calculating the Carbon Stored in Wood Products - WoodWorks | Wood Products Council (2024)

FAQs

Calculating the Carbon Stored in Wood Products - WoodWorks | Wood Products Council? ›

Although it varies slightly by species, wood is roughly 50% carbon by dry weight. Thus, if you know the density of the wood in question, you can easily calculate its stored carbon. Half of that dry weight is carbon: Every cubic foot of Douglas fir-larch contains 15 lb of carbon.

Use the conversion table to convert the circumference of the tree into the dry weight. Half of the dry weight of the tree is carbon, therefore you need to divide the answer for the dry weight by two. This tells you how much carbon is stored in the tree.

It is reported that 1 Kg of wood contains about 450 to 500 gm of Carbon. This means 1 Kg of wood is holding about 1.65 to 1.80 Kg of CO2. This is how wood or forest act as carbon sink. Similarly burning of 1 kg of wood will generate 1.65 to 1.80 Kg of CO2.

So, when trees are sustainably harvested, wood continues to store carbon in the thousands of products we use every day, from paper products to lumber to energy generation. Trees then regrow, repeating the cycle.

What Is the Carbon Footprint of Timber? The overall carbon footprint of timber is relatively small. For a single dry ton of timber produced, around 1.8 tons of CO₂ is removed from the atmosphere.

Although it varies slightly by species, wood is roughly 50% carbon by dry weight. Thus, if you know the density of the wood in question, you can easily calculate its stored carbon. Half of that dry weight is carbon: Every cubic foot of Douglas fir-larch contains 15 lb of carbon.

"Dry (moisture-free) wood is about 48-50% carbon, 38-42% oxygen, 6-7% hydrogen and a number of other elements, such as nitrogen and sulfur in very small percentages. These percentages are based on the weight of the elements as a percentage of dry wood mass.

As trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, they store approximately one tonne of CO2 per cubic metre of wood; carbon that is stored in this form is called 'biogenic carbon' [5].

Wood pellets

The carbon factor for pellets is higher than for chips due to the additional energy consumption involved in drying, milling and pelletising, and ranges from 30 to 106 kg CO2/MWh depending on the type of wood used to produce the pellets, its source, and method for drying the wood pre-pelletisation.

How much carbon is in lumber? ›

Carbon constitutes approximately 50% the dry mass of trees and when wood from these trees is used in wood products, the carbon is stored for the life of that product.

Carbon is stored in the lithosphere in both inorganic and organic forms. Inorganic deposits of carbon in the lithosphere include fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, oil shale, and carbonate based sedimentary deposits like limestone.

Decomposition in temperate and boreal forests is considerably slower indicating that deadwood stores carbon over long time periods in these regions.

To calculate the PCF, use the formula activity * emissions factor for every activity, to develop the product's emissions inventory. If your production process also involves co-products or by-products, the GHG Protocol sets out methods to ensure your emissions calculations relate only to the product under analysis.

During its growth, the tree accumulates CO2 from the air. Carbon (C) is used for the construction of organic substances, oxygen (O2) is released into the environment. A 25-meter-high spruce releases a daily amount of oxygen necessary for the respiration of four men.

Most forest inventories measure live trees as cords, board feet, or tons. Because carbon dioxide is traded in tons, and biomass tons can be obtained from a tree inventory, tons will be used as the base unit in calculating carbon accumulations (and subsequently CO2 equivalents).

Measure the mass of the dried soil samples in grams (g). Analyze the samples to determine the percentage of organic carbon content (%). Calculate the mass of carbon in each sample by multiplying the mass of the dried soil sample by the percentage of organic carbon content (divide the percentage by 100).

Calculating carbon storage (C)

From experiments, scientists have found that about 50 per cent of a tree's dry weight is carbon. To find carbon storage, multiply dry weight by 50 per cent.

CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) at emission sources, transporting and then storing or burying it in a suitable deep, underground location. CCS can also mean the removal of CO₂ directly or indirectly from the atmosphere. Fossil fuel-related CO₂ emissions reached 32 Gigatonnes in 2010.