Koskisen’s plywood products have a small carbon footprint
Leena Haaparanta first learned about Koskisen’s plywood products during a summer job.
- In the summer of 2010 I worked at Koskisen’s plywood mill and I was thinking about my thesis topic. Riitta Ahokas suggested determining the carbon footprint of plywood boards, as it would bring considerable added value and a competitive edge to Koskisen’s Panel Products Industry products, recalls Leena.
She explains the carbon footprint in general terms as the burden on the climate caused by a product, activity or service, meaning the amount of greenhouse gases generated during the lifetime of the product or activity. In Koskisen’s case, the assessment was limited to the ‘cradle to gate’ approach, studying the carbon footprint of two selected products, both in terms of their materials and the plywood manufacturing process.
Drying of veneers saps the most energy
- Compiling all the information I needed was the most laborious part of my thesis work, since I had to consult several different sources, Leena explains.
- I had to gather all of the data concerning electricity and steam consumption, as well as information on the additives used in production, such as for surfacing and gluing, separately. I entered the data in the GaBi programme, a carbon-footprint calculation system, and it automatically calculated the amount of greenhouse gases generated by the products.
In the conclusion of her thesis work, Leena says that because Koskisen’s plywood boards are an ecological material, i.e. wood, they have a small carbon footprint. Emissions are generated from the product’s manufacturing process, additives and transportation to the mill.
- Our power plant, which gives us the steam we need in our processes, extensive utilisation of production by-products and integration between the plywood mill and our other production facilities all contribute to reducing Koskisen’s carbon footprint. Drying of plywood is, in addition to forklift transportation, the biggest energy drain in Koskisen’s Panel Products Industry, Leena reiterates.
Comparison challenging
Leena, who will soon graduate from Aalto University’s School of Chemical Technology with a Master’s degree in Forest Product Technology, would further reduce the carbon footprint of Koskisen’s plywood by seeking renewable energy sources for the production process.
She says it is difficult to take a stand on the carbon footprint assessments made by competitors on similar products, as only the owner of the product can know the carbon footprint assessment criteria and their extent. For that reason, the transparency of the calculations is very important when it comes to making comparisons, in order to determine what the final result is based on and thus also to critically assess the significance of the result.
- Koskisen’s uncoated KoskiStandard plywood boards had a carbon footprint of about 160 and coated KoskiCrown about 230 kg of CO2 equivalent per cubic metre of plywood. In general, these figures are quite good for wood products, Leena sums up.
