A Component-Design-Based Carbon Emission Calculation Method in the Life Cycle of a Prefabricated Building Structural Member System

Carbon emissions from buildings account for a large proportion of total social carbon emissions. Prefabricated buildings can effectively reduce carbon emissions in the construction materialization phase. The existing building carbon emission calculation method for prefabricated buildings seems too complicated due to the large amounts of data that need to be consulted in the production, transportation, construction, and demolition phases of each building. Meanwhile, the traditional building carbon emission calculation method must be carried out after the completion of construction drawings, because the consumption of labor, materials, and machinery must be calculated according to these drawings. This paper proposes a building carbon emission calculation method for prefabricated buildings based on the component design method. A case study proved that our method can calculate carbon emissions in the materialization phase of construction more quickly than the traditional quota carbon emission calculation method, and the results of the two methods differ by less than 10%. This method significantly improves the prediction of carbon emissions in the building materialization phase.