Geo-environmental Study Applied to the Life Cycle Assessment in the Wood Supply Chain: Study Case of Monte Vulture Area (Basilicata Region)

The present work was carried out in the context of the research project entitled “LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA): ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE WOOD SUPPLY CHAIN OF BASILICATA REGION” ITALY. The work had as main objective the identification of the fundamental geo-environmental factors of Mount Vulture forested areas of the Basilicata region, which directly or indirectly affect the quality and quantity of forest areas, for a detailed analysis of certified raw materials used in the sustainable building. The survey, with appropriate skills provides a optimal study of the life cycle (LCA), which analyzes the into and out material flows, energy and emissions at all stages of the product, “from cradle to grave”. For feedback LCA, it was used a new environmental indicator, represented by the Water Footprint (WF) which was calculated by means of CROPWAT version 8.0 Software. The results show that most of the Water Footprint associated with the raw material, in the wood supply chain, is attributable to the growth stage of forest types present in the Mount Vulture area. Obviously, this study focused on the initial phase of an extensive research project and has provided the information required for the next application of LCA in the sustainability analysis.