Life Cycle Environmental and Cost Performance of Prefabricated Buildings

He Wang, Yinqi Zhang, Weijun Gao and Soichiro Kuroki
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He Wang: School of Environmental Engineering, the University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu 8080135, Japan
Yinqi Zhang: School of Environmental Engineering, the University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu 8080135, Japan
Weijun Gao: School of Environmental Engineering, the University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu 8080135, Japan
Soichiro Kuroki: School of Environmental Engineering, the University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu 8080135, Japan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the construction industry continue to increase at an annual rate of 1.5%. It is particularly important to understand the characteristics of the building life cycle to reduce its environmental impact. This paper aims to assess the environmental impact of prefabricated buildings and traditional cast-in-situ buildings over the building life cycle using a hybrid model. A case study of a building with a 40% assembly rate in Japan was employed for evaluation. It concluded that the total energy consumption, and carbon emissions of the prefabricated building was 7.54%, and 7.17%, respectively, less than that of the traditional cast-in-situ building throughout the whole life cycle. The carbon emissions reduction in the operation phase reached a peak of 4.05 kg CO 2 /year∙m 2 . The prefabricated building was found to cost less than the traditional cast-in-situ building, reducing the price per square meter by 10.62%. The prefabricated building has advantages in terms of reducing global warming, acid rain, and health damage by 15% reduction. With the addition of the assembly rate, the carbon emissions and cost dropped, bottoming out when the assembly rate was 60%. After that, an upward trend was shown with the assembly rate increasing. Additionally, this study outlined that the prefabricated pile foundations is not applicable due to its high construction cost and environmental impact.

Keywords: prefabricated building; traditional building; life cycle; environmental impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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