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

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

Featured Publications & Products

• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Puettmann, Maureen; Taylor, Adam; Skog, Kenneth E. 2014. The Carbon Impacts of Wood Products.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Taylor, Adam. 2011. EPD--environmental product declarations for wood products : an application of life cycle information about forest products.
• Ritter, Michael A.; Skog, Kenneth; Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2011. Science supporting the economic and environmental benefits of using wood and wood products in green building construction.
• Bergman, Richard D, PhD. 2012. The effect on climate change impacts for building products when including the timing of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Puettmann, Maureen E.; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Hubbard, Steve; Johnson, Leonard; Lippke, Bruce; Oneil, Elaine; Wagner, Francis G. 2010. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle inventory of U.S. wood products production: CORRIM phase I and phase II products.
• Bergman, Richard D. Bowe, Scott A. 2008. Environmental impact of producing hardwood lumber using life-cycle inventory.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Falk, Robert H.; Gu, Hongmei; Napier, Thomas R.; Meil, Jamie. 2013. Life-Cycle Energy and GHG Emissions for New and Recovered Softwood Framing Lumber and Hardwood Flooring Considering End-of-Life Scenarios.
• Wang, Xiping; Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Brashaw, Brian K.; Myers, Scott W. 2014. Heat treatment of Firewood for Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire): Case Studies.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Ibach, Rebecca E.; LaPasha, Constantine; Denig, Joseph. 2009. Evaluating physical property changes for small-diameter, plantation-grown southern pine after in situ polymerization of an acrylic monomer.

Publications

• Liang, Shaobo ; Gu, Hongmei ; Bergman, Richard ; Kelley, Stephen S. 2020. Comparative life-cycle assessment of a mass timber building and concrete alternative.
• Negro, Francesco ; Bergman, Richard . 2019. Carbon stored by furnishing wood-based products: an Italian case study.
• Bergman, Richard ; Gu, Hongmei ; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda ; Liang, Shaobo . 2019. Comparative life-cycle assessment of biochar activated carbon and synthesis gas electricity with commercially available alternatives.
• Sahoo, Kamalakanta ; Bilek, Edward ; Bergman, Richard ; Kizha, Anil R.; Mani, Sudhagar . 2019. Economic analysis of forest residues supply chain options to produce enhanced-quality feedstocks.
• Sahoo, Kamalakanta ; Bergman, Richard D. 2019. Environmental impacts of redwood lumber: a cradle-to-gate assessment.
• Sahoo, Kamalakanta ; Bergman, Richard ; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda ; Gu, Hongmei ; Liang, Shaobo . 2019. Life cycle assessment of forest-based products: a review.
• Liang, Shaobo ; Gu, Hongmei ; Bilek, Ted ; Bergman, Richard . 2019. Life-cycle cost analysis of a mass-timber building: methodology and hypothetical case study.
• Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda ; Bergman, Richard D. 2019. Life-cycle impact and exergy based resource use assessment of torrefied and non-torrefied briquette use for heat and electricity generation.
• Sahoo, Kamalakanta ; Bilek, Edward ; Bergman, Richard ; Mani, Sudhagar . 2019. Techno-economic analysis of producing solid biofuels and biochar from forest residues using portable systems.
• Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda; Bergman, Richard D.; Ganguly, Indroneil; Pierobon, Francesca. 2018. A comparative life-cycle assessment of briquetting logging residues and lumber manufacturing coproducts in western United States.
• Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda ; Bergman, Richard ; Gething, Brad . 2018. Developing procedures and guidance for performing an environmental assessment of US wooden pallets.
• Gu, Hongmei; Bergman, Richard. 2018. Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts.
• Gu, Hongmei ; Bergman, Richard ; Anderson, Nathaniel ; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda . 2018. Life cycle assessment of activated carbon from woody biomass.
• Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda ; Bergman, Richard . 2018. Using life-cycle assessment to evaluate environmental impacts of briquette production from forest residues.
• Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda ; Bergman, Richard . 2018. Using life-cycle assessment to evaluate environmental impacts of torrefied briquette production from forest residues.
• Bergman, Rick ; Berry, Michael ; Bilek, E. M. (Ted); Bowers, Tait ; Eastin, Ivan ; Ganguly, Indroneil ; Han, Han-Sup ; Hirth, Kolby ; Jacobson, Arne ; Karp, Steve ; Oneil, Elaine ; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Pierobon, Francesca ; Puettmann, Maureen ; Rawlings, Craig ; Rosenbaum, Sevda Alanya; Sahoo, Kamalakanta ; Sasatani, Daisuke ; Sessions, John ; Sifford, Cody ; Waddell, Tom . 2018. Waste to Wisdom: Utilizing forest residues for the production of bioenergy and biobased products.
• Liang, Shaobo ; Bergman, Richard ; Gu, Hongmei . 2018. Workflow for publishing forestry LCI data through the LCA commons: a case study.
• Anderson, Nathaniel M.; Bergman, Richard D.; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S. 2017. A supply chain approach to biochar systems Chapter 2.
• Oneil, Elaine ; Bergman, Richard D.; Puettmann, Maureen E. 2017. CORRIM: forest products life-cycle analysis update overview.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda. 2017. Cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of composite I-joists produced in the southeast region of the United States.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda . 2017. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment of composite I-joist production in the United States.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda. 2017. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment of composite I-joists produced in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda. 2017. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) produced in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda. 2017. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment of laminated veneer lumber produced in the southeast region of the United States.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda . 2017. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment of laminated veneer lumber production in the United States.
• Gu, Hongmei; Bergman, Richard. 2017. Cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of syngas electricity from woody biomass residues.
• Taylor, Adam M.; Bergman, Richard D.; Puettmann, Maureen E.; Alanya-Rosenbaum, Sevda . 2017. Impacts of the Allocation Assumption in Life-Cycle Assessments of Wood-Based Panels*.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Gu, Hongmei; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Anderson, Nathaniel M. 2017. Life cycle analysis of biochar Chapter 3.
• Liang, Shaobo; Gu, Hongmei; Bergman, Richard D. 2017. Life cycle assessment of cellulosic ethanol and biomethane production from forest residues.
• Nepal, Prakash; Skog, Kenneth E.; McKeever, David B.; Bergman, Richard D.; Abt, Karen L.; Abt, Robert C. 2016. Carbon Mitigation Impacts of Increased Softwood Lumber and Structural Panel Use for Nonresidential Construction in the United States.
• Puettmann, Maureen; Bergman, Richard; Oneil, Elaine. 2016. Cradle to Gate Life Cycle Assessment of North American Cellulosic Fiberboard Production.
• Puettmann, Maureen; Bergman, Richard; Oneil, Elaine. 2016. Cradle-To-Gate Life Cycle Assessment of North American Hardboard and Engineered Wood Siding and Trim Production.
• Bergman, Richard D.; Zhang, Hanwen; Englund, Karl; Windell, Keith; Gu, Hongmei. 2016. Estimating GHG Emissions from the Manufacturing of Field-Applied Biochar Pellets.
• Bergman, Richard; Kaestner, D.; Taylor, A. M. 2016. Life cycle impacts of North American wood panel Manufacturing.
• Gu, Hongmei; Bergman, Richard. 2016. Life-Cycle Assessment of a Distributed-Scale Thermochemical Bioenergy Conversion System.
• Jakes, Joseph E.; Arzola, Xavier; Bergman, Richard; Ciesielski, Peter; Hunt, Christopher G.; Rahbar, Nima; Tshabalala, Mandla; Wiedenhoeft, Alex C.; Zelinka, Samuel L. 2016. Not just lumber--Using wood in the sustainable future of materials, chemicals, and fuels.
• Bergman, R. D., PhD.; Reed, D. L.; Taylor, A. M.; Harper, D. P.; Hodges, D. G. 2015. Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment of Switchgrass Fuel Pellets Manufactured in the Southeastern United States.
• Bergman, Richard D. 2015. Cradle-to-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Cellulosic Fiberboard Produced in North America.
• Bergman, Richard D. 2015. Cradle-to-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Hardboard and Engineered Wood Siding and Trim Produced in North America.
• Han, Han-Sup; Oneil, Elaine; Bergman, Richard D.; Eastin, Ivan L.; Johnson, Leonard R. 2015. Cradle-to-gate life cycle impacts of redwood forest resource harvesting in northern California.
• Bergman, R.; Kaestner, D.; Taylor, A. 2015. Environmental Performance of North American Wood Panel Manufacturing.
• Gu, Hongmei; Reiner, Richard; Bergman, Richard; Rudie, Alan. 2015. LCA Study for Pilot Scale Production of Cellulose Nano Crystals (CNC) from Wood Pulp.
• Bergman, Richard D. 2015. Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of I-joist Production in the United States.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD. 2015. Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of Laminated Veneer Lumber Production in the United States.
• Gu, Hongmei; Bergman, Richard. 2015. Life-cycle GHG emissions of electricity from syngas produced by pyrolyzing woody biomass.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2014. Gate-to-gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Hardboard Production in North America.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Oneil, Elaine; Eastin, Ivan L.; Han, Han-Sup. 2014. Life cycle impacts of manufacturing redwood decking in Northern California.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Gu, Hongmei. 2014. Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of Bioproducts from a Modular Advanced Biomass Pyrolysis System.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD. 2014. Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of Cellulosic Fiberboard Production in North America.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Oneil, Elaine; Puettmann, Maureen; Eastin, Ivan; Ganguly, Indroneil. 2014. Updating of U.S. Wood Product Life-Cycle Assessment Data for Environmental Product Declarations.
• Puettmann, Maureen; Oneil, Elaine; Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2013. Cradle to Gate Life Cycle Assessment of Softwood Lumber Production from the Northeast-North Central.
• Bergman, R., PhD.; Sup-Han, H.; Oneil, E.; Eastin, I. 2013. Life-cycle assessment of redwood decking in the United States with a comparison to three other decking materials.
• Salazar, James; Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2013. Temporal Considerations of Carbon Sequestration in LCA.
• Reed, Daniel; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Kim, Jae-Woo; Tayler, Adam; Harper, David; Jones, David; Knowles, Chris; Puettmann, Maureen E. 2012. Cradle-to-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory and Impact Assessment of Wood Fuel Pellet Manufacturing from Hardwood Flooring Residues in the Southeastern United States.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Salazar, James; Bowe, Scott. 2012. Developing a dynamic life cycle greenhouse gas emission inventory for wood construction for two different end-of-life scenarios.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bilek, Ted E.M. 2012. Evaluating a Small Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) Designed Solar Kiln in Southwestern New Mexico - Part 1.
• Lippke, Bruce; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Taylor, Adam; Puettmann, Maureen E. 2012. Evaluating the Environmental Performance of Wood-Based Biofuels.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Gu, Hongmei; Napier, Thomas R.; Salazar, James; Falk, Robert H. 2012. Life Cycle Primary Energy and Carbon Analysis of Recovering Softwood Framing Lumber and Hardwood Flooring for Reuse.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Han, Han-Sup; Oneil, Elaine; Eastin, Ivan L. 2012. Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis of Manufacturing Redwood Decking.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2012. Life-cycle inventory of manufacturing hardwood lumber in Southeastern US.
• Wang, Xiping; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Brashaw, Brian K.; Myers, Scott; Joyal, Marc. 2011. Heat treatment of firewood : meeting the phytosanitary requirements.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2011. Life cycle inventory of manufacturing prefinished engineered wood flooring in eastern U.S. with comparison to solid strip wood flooring.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2011. Life-cycle environmental performance of renewable building materials in the context of residential construction : phase II research report : an extension to the 2005 phase I research report. Module N, Life-cycle inventory of manufacturing prefinished engineered wood flooring in the eastern United States.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2010. Drying and control of moisture content and dimensional changes.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2010. Environmental impact of manufacturing softwood lumber in northeastern and north central United States.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Simpson, William T.; Turk, Chris. 2010. Evaluating warp of 2 by 4s sawn from panels produced through green gluing dimension lumber from small ponderosa pine logs.
• Wang, Xiping; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Mace, T. 2010. Heat sterilization of ash (Fraxinus spp.) firewood : heat-treating options, temperature monitoring and thermal verification.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2010. Life cycle environmental performance of renewable building materials in the context of residential construction : phase II research report: an extension to the 2005 phase I research report. Module L, Life-cycle inventory of hardwood lumber manufacturing in the Southeastern United States..
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2010. Life-Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Prefinished Engineered Wood Flooring in the Eastern United States.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Gu, Hongmei; Falk, Robert H.; Napier, Thomas R. 2010. Using reclaimed lumber and wood flooring in construction : measuring environmental impact using life-cycle inventory analysis.
• Wiemann, Michael C.; Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Knaebe, Mark; Bowe, Scott A. 2009. Exploring methods for prevention of oxidative stain in soft maple.
• Wang, Xiping; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Simpson, William T.; Verrill, Steve; Mace, Terry. 2009. Heat-treatment options and heating times for ash firewood.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2009. Life cycle environmental performance of renewable building materials in the context of residential construction : phase II research report: an extension to the 2005 phase I research report. Module D, Life cycle inventory of softwood lumber manufacturing in the Northeastern and North Central United States..
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Ross, Robert J. 2008. Evaluating shrinkage of wood propellers in a high-temperature environment.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2008. Life cycle environmental performance of renewable building materials in the context of residential construction : phase II research report: an extension to the 2005 phase I research report. Module C, Life-cycle inventory of hardwood lumber manufacturing in the Northeast and North Central United States..
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD. 2008. Operation and cost of a small dehumidification dry kiln.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Bowe, S.A. 2007. Environmental impact of producing hardwood lumber using life-cycle inventory.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Maker, Timothy M. 2007. Fuels for schools: case study in Darby, Montana.
• Bergman, Richard D., PhD. 2007. Gate-to-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory on Hardwood Sawmills in the Northeastern Region of the United States.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Bowe, Scott A. 2007. Life-cycle inventory of hardwood lumber manufacturing in the Northeastern and North Central United States..
• Kretschmann, David E.; Winandy, Jerrold E.; Clausen, Carol A.; Wiemann, Michael Carl; Bergman, Richard, PhD.; Rowell, Roger M.; Zerbe, John I.; Beecher, James F.; White, Robert H.; McKeever, David R. 2007. Wood.
• Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2005. Small-scale lumber drying using wood gasification as a heat source.
• Govett, Robert; Bowe, Scott; Mace, Terry; Hubbard, Steve; Dramm, John (Rusty); Bergman, Richard, PhD. 2005. Wood fueled boiler financial feasibility user's manual.
• Nicholls, David L.; Zerbe, John I.; Bergman, Richard D., PhD.; Crimp, Peter M. 2004. Use of wood energy for lumber drying and community heating in southeast Alaska.

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
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-2019-68	Life Cycle Assessment of Activated Carbon from Woody Biomass Expanding biofuels and bioproducts production using forest biomass as feedstock contributes to not only alternatives to U.S. fossil fuels, but a ...	2019
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