To fully comprehend the underlying sustainability of using American hardwoods requires an appreciation of the sheer scale of the American forest resource and the speed with which it replaces itself. 

The area of hardwood and mixed hardwood / softwood forest in the US is approximately 120 million hectares, which is about 16% of the total land area of Australia. 

Predominantly in the hands of small, private landowners, hardwood trees are selectively harvested and replaced with new growth through natural regeneration.

The latest United States Department of Agriculture data shows that, whilst hardwood forest growth is 271million cubic metres per year,  removals total just 141 million cubic metres – that’s an increase of 130 million cubic metres in standing hardwood volume each year.

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What is LCA?

Environmental life cycle assessment  (LCA) is a means of measuring all impacts of production and use of materials from growth, treatment, transport, manufacturing, treatment, use and ultimately disposal. 

It considers a number of impacts on the environment including carbon footprint, acidification and eutrophication potential, photochemical ozone creation and energy demand. 

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Seed to Seat LCA Findings

The process of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) for this project provided some illuminating results.