Case Study on Carbon Footprint Life-Cycle Assessment for Construction Delivery Stage in China

Xiaojuan Li, Chen Wang, Mukhtar A. Kassem, Shu-Yi Wu and Tai-Bing Wei
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Xiaojuan Li: College of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350108, China
Chen Wang: Intelligence and Automation in Construction Fujian Province Higher-Educational Engineering Research Centre, College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
Mukhtar A. Kassem: Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying, University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Shu-Yi Wu: Transportation Bureau of Zhangzhou City, Zhangzhou 350108, China
Tai-Bing Wei: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuyi University, Nanping 354300, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-25

Abstract: The construction industry’s high energy consumption and carbon emissions significantly burden the ecological environment. Thus, it is necessary to study measures and strategies for emissions reduction during construction for an improved, safe and sustainable environment. Using the life-cycle assessment method, this study aims to investigate construction-building outcomes and their carbon footprint during the construction delivery stage. This work used a compiled database of carbon-emission factors per unit for concrete and mortar with different densities and 16 building-project case studies in Fujian Province to verify the empirical findings. The results show that general civil engineering works produce more carbon emissions than decoration engineering. Furthermore, cement’s average proportion of carbon emissions relative to total carbon emissions is the largest at 30.26%. Our findings also show a strong linear relationship between the total carbon emissions, eaves height, project cost, and building area during the building construction. The findings in this paper promote the conversion of buildings from high-energy consumption to multi-carbon reduction. The concept of this research contributes to the existing knowledge by proposing a carbon-footprint calculation method and establishing the trend of carbon emissions in building construction.

Keywords: construction industry; life-cycle assessment (LCA); construction delivery stage; carbon-footprint calculation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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