Carbon emission evaluation of prefabricated concrete composite plates during the building materialization stage

Abstract

Modern prefabricated building technology can save resources, shorten the construction period, improve quality, and reduce pollution and carbon emissions. This study investigated the carbon footprint of prefabricated concrete composite (PCC) plates at the project materialization stage. The joint application of three techniques conducted data analysis and computation: (a) the life cycle assessment (LCA) method providing the overall conceptual framework, building information modeling (BIM) technology designing the PCC-plates and generating the component list, and geographic information system (GIS) software computing the spatial distribution of carbon footprint. A holistic carbon footprint accounting model was established for PCC plates' three materialization substages (component-production, transport-logistics, and construction-installation) to comprehensively evaluate their quantity and distribution of carbon emissions. A detailed case study was conducted to test the proposed method and verify empirical findings. The results indicated: (1) the maximum difference between cases amounted to 92.72 kgCO2/m2; (2) the carbon intensity per unit height was about 18,182.15 kgCO2/m, and the unit cost was about 8469.01 kgCO2/10,000 Yuan; and (3) the prefabrication rate, carbon emission per unit area and per unit cost were significantly correlated, indicating quantitative contributions of using more PCC to carbon footprint reduction. This research can assess the carbon emission of PCC at different construction substages with a good confidence level. The findings can provide a policy reference for the government and the industry to promote and rationalize PCC use and offer the basis to reduce the carbon footprint and sustainability of prefabricated construction.