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US Forest Service Research & Development
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  • US Forest Service Research & Development
  • 1400 Independence Ave., SW
  • Washington, D.C. 20250-0003
  • 800-832-1355
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Richard Bergman

Richard Bergman, PhD

Supervisory Research Forest Products Technologist
One Gifford Pinchot Drive
Madison
Wisconsin
United States
53726-2398

Phone: 608-231-9477
Fax: 608-231-9508
Contact Richard Bergman, PhD

Curriculum vitae (229 KB PDF)


Current Research

Consequential life-cycle analysis of products produced from biomass thermo-chemical conversion and densification

The effect of timing of GHG issions on climate change impacts for harvesting, production, use and disposal of building products

Dynamic carbon inventory of the life cycle of wood products in conjunction with working forests

Developing new and updating wood product life-cycle assessment data for creating business-to-business Environmental Product Declarations

Carbon impacts of wood products

Life-cycle primary energy and carbon footprint of recovering wood from buildings for reuse

Research Interests

Life-cycle analysis of wood building materials and bioenergy resources to quantify critical emissions and thus environmental impacts

Carbon footprint of wood products including the impact of dynamic GHG fluxes

Comparison of critical environmental impacts for wood products and their alternatives

Past Research

Heat treatment (sterilization) of wood products

Wood energy with a focus on gasification

Why This Research is Important

Life-cycle inventories (LCIs) and life-cycle assessments (LCAs) of wood products are critically needed 1) to support LCA calculations and material selection decisions under Green Building codes and standards and 2) to provide data needed for environmental products declarations for wood products and thereby maintain their competitiveness.

Methods development that include the effect of timing of greenhouse gas emissions is critical to accurately estimate the climate change impacts of wood products use that have varying emissions over time.

LCI and LCA information can aid wood product manufcaturers and users by identifying and modifying unit processes that the highest environmental impacts and thereby reduce emissions.

Education

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D. Primary: Forestry Secondary: Life-cycle analysis 2012
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, M.S. Primary: Forestry Secondary: Life-cycle analysis 2007
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, B.S. Chemical Engineer 1996
  • Northcentral Technical College, WI, A.S. Electromechanical Technology 1991

Professional Experience

  • Research Forest Products Technologist, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madiosn, Wisconsin
    1999 - Current
    Focused on evaluating the forest sector role in sustainable management of natural systems. This includes evaluating indicators of sustainability of forest management, estimating and analyzing the role of forests and wood products in mitigating climate change by storing carbon and offsetting missions, evaluating opportunities to use forest biomass in the West to mitigate fire risk, and conducting life cycle analysis of the environmental effects of wood and bioenergy products. The life-cycle analysis area is new and will have its own problem statement when the research work unit (RWU) description is approved. This reflects an increasing emphasis in the RWU of understanding the environmental impacts, particularly carbon emissions and offsets, of wood and paper product products production and use.

Professional Organizations

  • ASTM E60 Sustainability Committee, Member (2010 - Current)
    I am a ASTM E60 committee member working on creating standards from the following two work items: 1) Work Item# 23356: Standard Practice for Development of Product Category Rules for Use in Development of Environmental Declarations for Building Products and Systems (FPL Technical Lead) and 2) Work Item #28938: Standard Practice for Life Cycle Assessment of Whole Buildings
  • Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM), Vice-President Of Solid And Engineered Wood Products (2009 - Current)
    As part of CORRIM, I am involved with the following: 1) developing life-cycle research proposals in conjunction with other CORRIM members, 2) working on life-cycle research projects with other CORRIM members, and 3) providing guidance on direction of CORRIM's objectives
  • American Center on Life-Cycle Assessment, Member (2008 - Current)
    I present life-cycle research at ahe annual conferences and revieweproceedings papers .
  • Forest Products Society (FPS), Vice Chairman (2004 - Current)
    I am currently co-chair of the North American Wood Windows and Doors Symposium to be held April 18-19, 2013 in Minneapolis, MN. In addition, I present research at annual conferences, review manuscripts for the Forest Products Journal (FPJ) related to life-cycle analysis and submit manuscripts from my research to the FPJ for peer-review.
  • Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST), Member (2004 - Current)
    I present research at SWST annual conferences, review manuscripts for the Wood and Fiber Science (W&FS) journal related to life-cycle analysis and submit manuscripts from my work to W&FS journal for peer-review.

Awards & Recognition

  • Rural Community Assistance Award, 2005
    In the Spirit of Working Together for Rural America
  • First National Fire Plan Award, 2004
    Innovation in Utilization of Biomass
  • USDA Secretary’s Group Award for Enhancing the Capacity of All Rural Residents, Communities, and Bus, 2003
    For exceptional dedication and commitment in providing technical and marketing assistance to rural forest-dependent communities and business

Featured Publications & Products

Publications

Research Highlights

HighlightTitleYear

FPL-2010-001		Centennial Edition, Wood Handbook—Wood as an Engineering Material

The Wood Handbook—Wood as an Engineering Material serves as a primary reference document for a wide variety of users-from the general publ ...

2010

FPL-2018-24		Economic Analysis of Making Solid Biofuels and Biochar from Forest Residues Using Portable Production Systems in the U.S.

Higher logistic cost is one of the major bottlenecks to produce renewable power, fuel, or bioproducts from forest residues in large-scale produc ...

2018

FPL-2016-56		Environmental Evaluation of Converting Post-harvest Forest Residues to Bioenergy Products

Forest residues are a low-value byproduct of timber harvest operations that are typically burned or left to rot. Using forest residues as a bioe ...

2016

FPL-2017-95 		Environmental building declaration prepared using life cycle assessment

An environmental building declaration for the Design Building on the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts was prepared from a whole ...

2017

FPL-2017-112		Evaluating near-woods processing of post-harvest forest residues for energy production

Forest Service researchers are evaluating the environmental viability of converting post-harvest forest residues into high-quality bioenergy pro ...

2017

FPL-2011-06		Evaluating the environmental impact of building material recovery and reuse

Within the green building and sustainable construction fields, there is a growing movement to recover and reuse building materials in lieu of de ...

2011

FPL-2011-10		Labeling Wood Products Based on Environmental Impacts - Helping consumers make sustainable choices

Environmental product declaration (EPD) is a summary of the environmental impacts associated with producing and using a product or service. An E ...

2011

FPL-2016-54		New Model for Understanding the Fiber Saturation Point of Wood

The fiber saturation point is a key measure of how much water can be held within wood before free water forms in empty spaces within wood struct ...

2016

FPL-2017-113		New bio-based technology uses waste wood to produce high-value activated carbon

Forest Service scientists investigated making activated carbon products from renewable woody biomass material such as forest or mill residues fo ...

2017

FPL-2014-171		Novel Technology Uses Waste Wood to Make Bioenergy while Sequestering Carbon

Wood companies need high-value uses for wood residues. A new technology developed by Forest Service researchers and their partners converts wood ...

2014

FPL-2013-146		Redwood Decking is a Good Choice for the Environment

Building products produce emissions throughout their lifespan, from harvest and manufacturing to use and final disposal. Using building products ...

2013

FPL-2018-25		Techno-economic and Environmental Assessments of Storing Woodchips and Pellets for Bioenergy Applications

Storage is the critical operation within the biomass supply chain to reduce feedstock supply risks and to manage smooth year-around operations o ...

2018

Last updated on : 02/10/2020