ABSTRACT
The U.S. government promotes the use of bio-based products and bioenergy1
with the intent to reduce foreign oil dependence, strengthen energy security, increase environmental quality and stimulate economic growth. Many life cycle assessment case studies, and several review studies, have been conducted on biomass as a source of renewable energy in the past decade, to understand the environmental impacts associated with this form of energy. However, the majority of these works have looked exclusively at the benefits of agricultural biomass as an energy source to replace fossil fuels used in transportation and have focused on the environmental impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this chapter we focus on the use of forest resources as an energy feedstock, investigate broader end products beyond transportation fuels, and discuss additional environmental impacts beyond GHG emissions. We provide a brief review of U.S. energy consumption, an introduction to life cycle assessment (LCA), and an overview of lignocellulosic feedstocks, conversion technologies, and bioenergy end products. Previous LCAs performed for renewable energy derived from forest resources are discussed in depth and findings and recommendations are provided for future LCA studies related to deriving bioenergy from forest resources.
