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For many consumers, buying a home is the most important purchasing decision they will ever make. Although consumer needs are well met in the detached house business, particularly compared to the multi-story house business, deficiencies still exist. These deficiencies are caused not only by companies' strategies, but also by institutional factors discouraging the development and launch of innovative business solutions. The purpose of this study is to provide information on the role of institutional practices in the housing markets and construction sector that cause delays in detached house building processes. The analysis employed qualitative data gathered from homebuilder families by phone interviews in January 2015. According to the results, institutional practices pose many challenges in building projects (e.g. acquiring of building permits and financing). In the future, the project planning phase in particular should be developed (e.g. area construction business models and administrative services) to decrease delays caused by purchasers' lack of decision-making power and administrative skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioenergy production is considered the single most significant contributor to the climate change mitigation within the forest sector. In addition, the production of forest-based bioenergy may also positively affect social welfare, local development and forest economy. In environmental markets the role of forests and the challenge of combining international, national and local needs related to their sustainable use for bioenergy and social livelihood is increasing. These global ecological and socio-economic changes pose new challenges for ecologically, economically, socially and culturally sustainable utilization of forest resources. The purpose of this literature review is to map the existing indicator sets introduced in scientific literature suitable for evaluating the sustainability of forest-based bioenergy production systems from a local perspective. In addition, also the challenges in assessing ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability by using different types of indicators are discussed. According to the results of this study, there are plenty of indicators suitable for assessing either the ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability of forest-based bioenergy production at a local level. In contrast, information on appropriate procedures for taking into account local development goals abreast with the objectives of sustainable development at general global level are lacking. Additionally, in order to analyze trade-offs in different sustainability dimensions caused by optional decisions regarding forest-based energy production, methodological development would be required. The comprehensive indicators lists presented in this study can employed as background information to define the measures that are especially relevant in enhancing the local sustainability goals from the perspective of different stakeholders in specific localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change places great pressure on the construction sector to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions and to create solutions that perform well in changing weather conditions. Our study explores citizen perceptions on wood usage as a building material under expected mitigation and adaptation measures aimed at a changing climate and extreme weather events. The data are founded on an internet-based survey material collected from a consumer panel from Finland and Sweden during May–June 2021, with a total of 2015 responses. By employing exploratory factor analysis, we identified similar belief structures for the two countries, consisting of both positive and negative views on wood construction. In linear regression models for predicting these beliefs, the perceived seriousness of climate change was found to increase positive views on wood construction but was insignificant for negative views. Both in Finland and Sweden, higher familiarity with wooden multistory construction was found to connect with more positive views on the potential of wood in building, e.g., due to carbon storage and material properties. Our findings underline the potential of wood material use as one avenue of climate change adaptation in the built environment. Future research should study how citizens' concerns for extreme weather events affect their future material preferences in their everyday living environments, also beyond the Nordic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the academic research on servitization in the recent past, few studies have investigated how the increasing role of services as a change in production processes affects the evolving bioeconomy, pursuit of resource efficiency and improved sustainability. The servitization of manufacturing companies, the blurring of the lines between the manufacturing and services sectors as well as the role of territorial servitization in emerging technology fields are already being studied in several disciplines, but bioeconomy strategies connect these questions to primary production, natural resources and new bio-industries. To fill this void, we 1) elaborate an analytic framework for addressing servitization at multiple levels of transitions (individual companies, supply networks and socio-technical systems), 2) test it with data on three prefabrication supply networks for wooden elements, and 3) discuss the system dynamics how servitization affects bioeconomy transitions. The analyses exemplify that servitization resides at multiple levels in the increasingly integrated manufacturing processes. The analytical framework elaborates how renewal of wood products companies and the forest-based industries that supply to them is determined by these companies' responses to the changes in customer industries and their ability to adapt to the evolving socio-technical regime. Better understanding is needed on the non-technological innovations and gradual reconfigurations due to servitization that can contribute to increasing efficiency and improve sustainability in bioeconomy transitions. • Analytic framework for addressing servitization at multiple levels of transitions. • Supply networks in prefabrication for industrial wood construction largely domestic. • Product-service system business models also detectible in primary production. • Technology-enabled services across supply networks build foundations of new regime. • Servitization: gradual reconfigurations that both maintain and disrupt regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-story wooden buildings are hailed as a favorable means toward reducing the embodied energy of the construction sector. However, the sector's path-dependent nature hinders acceptance of using wood in multi-story construction. As a result, research predominantly focuses on examining the perceptions of construction professionals to identify means of breaking the path dependency. We propose using citizens' perceptions about the use of wood to inform professional decision makers. Our research thus aims to answer two questions: What are citizens' perceptions about using wood as a construction material, and are there country-based cultural differences between these perceptions? To elicit this spectrum of citizen views, an online survey was deployed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze 6633 open-ended responses to the survey. Respondents held multi-faceted opinions about the physical properties, environmental, social, and economic aspects of using wood as a construction material. Citizens from Finland, Norway, and Sweden expressed discernably different perspectives about the acceptability of using wood than did citizens from Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Overall, respondents from all countries expressed high approval for the use of wood in construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined public attitudes towards multi-storey wood buildings (MSWBs) in seven European countries. A questionnaire was distributed to online panellists in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Results from 7007 complete questionnaires indicate that respondents knew less about MSWBs in countries where brick, stone and concrete are the most commonly used house frame elements in construction (United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark) compared to countries with a stronger wood building tradition (Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden). Respondents in Finland and Sweden had the most positive attitudes towards MSWB. The number of respondents, who considered a prospective apartment in an MSWB appealing, was approximately equal to the number that considered it an unappealing alternative. The factors most influencing the respondents' perception of MSWBs as a nice place to live were (i) vulnerability to fire, (ii) material solidity and durability, (iii) healthy indoor environment and (iv) vulnerability to moisture. The results from this study add new knowledge to the understanding of cross-country differences of preferences among the public for living in MSWBs. The results can be used to support the MSWB planning and marketing efforts in the countries involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People have different beliefs about the environmental impact of forest products. This quantitative web-survey study investigated public beliefs in Finland and Sweden about the environmental and climate impacts of using wood as a construction material for multi-story buildings. It was conducted with consumer panels reflecting the average populations of the two countries. The study analyzed factors affecting beliefs that multi-story Wood Buildings: (1) contribute to mitigating global warming, and (2) adversely impact biodiversity and the climate. It used consumer panel and multivariate statistics. Favorable climate-related beliefs were associated with Finnish nationality, male gender, age, children in household, university degree, and beliefs that climate change is induced by humans and causes weather disasters. Beliefs that wood buildings drive global warming and harm biodiversity were associated with non-rural residence, female gender, young age, children in household, low income, and beliefs that climate change causes weather disasters. No associations were recorded for current residence types. These findings highlight the importance of the wood construction industry to improve, document, and communicate to the public its impact on climate and biodiversity. They also indicate how market information can be formulated and targeted to communicate an accurate environmental image of wood construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing amount of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is produced in Europe each year. Increased recycling of C&DW is required by the EU Waste Framework Directive, targeting at 70% recycling of non-hazardous C&DW by 2020. The aim of the study was to assess the performance of the common Finnish C&DW management system against this target, thus identifying the environmental and economic impacts of the system and the effects brought about by changes in the waste composition. In this study, a combination of different methodologies was applied to evaluate holistically the performance of the C&DW management system: material flow analysis (MFA) was employed to assess material and energy recovery rates, life cycle assessment (LCA) was utilised to evaluate climate change impacts, and environmental life cycle costing (ELCC) was used for measuring the costs. In addition, the applicability of the best available technology (BAT) approach for developing the efficiency of the waste management system was scrutinised. Thus, aligned with the empirical aim of assessing the performance of Finnish C&DW in reference to the EU Waste Framework Directive, the theoretical aim of the study was to test how the employment of different assessment methodologies affects the performance results of the C&DW management system. According to the results, the overall system produced environmental benefits and was economically profitable, but was far behind the target of recycling 70%. Based on the assessments, the EU Waste Framework Directive target will not be achieved, even with the likely changes in waste composition. Thus, major changes will be needed to source separation and recovery within the system, e.g. by finding recycling concepts for waste wood without decreasing the environmental and economic benefits of the system. The employment of different methodologies gave a diversified view of the possibilities to develop the system. The metal treatment performed well in all assessments; hence improvements to it would not benefit the system notably. For wood the results were controversial, since the energy recovery generated environmental and economic benefits, but did not increase the recycling rate. Material recovery concepts should be developed, but simultaneously the environmental and economic benefits should be retained. Miscellaneous waste had the potential for increasing recycling and avoiding costs and emissions. Mixed waste was identified as the worst fraction in relation to climate change impacts, costs and material recycling. Applying the BAT approach showed that BAT for waste management needs to be based on system-level rather than installation-level assessments. This multi-methodological assessment of C&DW management showed the need for analysing the environmental performance of a system from different perspectives before decision-making. In general, the recycling of waste generates greater environmental benefits than energy recovery, but this may not always be the case. Regional differences in operations and waste composition may support arguments for differing recycling targets in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The sustainability of the utilization of wood biomass for energy and other purposes has been widely assessed in different studies. Especially discrete methods from the family of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), such as Outranking methods, Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) are often applied. AHP is considered one of the most promising options to be used in sustainability assessments, because it is comprehensible to apply and it incorporates the preferences of decision-makers in an advanced manner. In this study, we present a theoretical multi-dimensional framework based on a modified version of AHP for assessing sustainability and apply it in a case of wood-based bioenergy production in eastern Finland. The framework includes four dimensions of sustainability and life cycle phases from the acquisition of raw material to manufacturing the final product. The production systems used in the empirical sustainability assessments are a local heat production plant, a combined heat and power production plant, and a wood pellet processing plant. Local sustainability experts identified indicators relevant at the regional scale. The impact assessment data were obtained from literature, by interviewing the managers of the bioenergy plants, and from a postal survey administered to local people. The local heat provider received the highest sustainability index; however, there were no considerable differences between the sustainability indexes. None of the bioenergy production systems can be considered the most sustainable regardless of the assumptions employed in the framework. The framework provided the basis for a quantitative, interdisciplinary approach to assess sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Consumer acceptance of new bio-based products plays a key role in the envisioned transition towards a forest-based bioeconomy. Multi-storey wooden buildings (MSWB) exemplify a modern, bio-based business opportunity for enacting low-carbon urban housing. However, there is limited knowledge about the differing perceptions consumers hold regarding wood as an urban building material. To fill this gap, this study explores Finnish students' perceptions of MSWB relative to their familiarity with wooden residential buildings, and then connects these perceptions to 'consumption styles.' Data were collected in the Helsinki metropolitan area via an online questionnaire (n = 531). The results indicate that the aesthetic appearance of MSWB are appreciated most by frugal and responsible consumers, whereas the comfort, environmental friendliness, and longevity of MSWB are important to consumers who identify themselves as 'thoughtful spenders.' The study suggests that both environmental and hedonic young consumers already familiar with the use of wood in housing contribute to a successful bioeconomy in the urban context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural and business ecosystems are complex and dynamic service systems that interact through the utilization of ecosystem service offerings for human well-being. Currently, natural and business sciences have not developed a shared and common set of service-based terms or concepts for discussing ecosystem service offerings in the process of value co-creation. In this study, the ecosystem service approach was compared with marketing science's service-dominant logic. The terminology and concepts were harmonized, and the two approaches were then integrated into a service-dominant value creation (SVC) framework. The incorporation of natural ecosystems includes accounting for the flow of positive and negative impacts through associated value networks. Therefore, the term value-in-impact was proposed to describe these value flows. A case study of the global forest-based sector was then presented, demonstrating how to discuss current research challenges using the proposed framework. In conclusion, a shared service-dominant approach provides an opportunity for deeper inter-disciplinary discussion between natural and business sciences. This study represents a contribution towards the development of a holistic service science that includes consideration for natural ecosystems. The SVC framework also addresses many of the multidimensional challenges noted by previous sustainability frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A commonly agreed methodology for weighting the relative importance of different environmental impacts in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is lacking, although it is becoming a typical phase in LCA. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) provides an avenue to develop weighting tools applicable in LCA. The purpose of this paper is to describe a process of assessing environmental impacts of two alternative raw materials and to present the problems related to it. A panel which includes experts in measuring the environmental impacts of biomass production was requested to identify and weight impact categories to assess environmental impacts of biomass production. The panelists identified new environmental impacts (such as biodiversity) not included to the standard LCA. The highest weights were given by the panelists to climate change, natural land use change and biodiversity. The environmental impacts were analyzed for four case biomass production chains producing biodiesel and pulp in Finland. In case chains, the raw material for biodiesel is Asian palm oil or Finnish rapeseed oil, while the raw material for pulp is South American eucalyptus or Finnish birch. The calculations of the LCA impacts were limited to the impact categories for which inventory data were available. In calculations, different types of normalization procedures were tested to receive information on their effects on the LCA results. According to the results, in some cases normalization have considerable impact on the magnitude of the results. In general, the results imply that biomass imported from developing countries has less environmental impacts compared to the local forest and field biomass produced in Finland. However, due to the several sources of uncertainties included in the results, they are only to be used for illustrative purposes. In the future, applying the MCDA in LCA may deepen the applicability of the analyses, if valid and reliable data is available. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]