An Empirical Study of Carbon Emission Calculation in the Production and Construction Phase of A Prefabricated Office Building from Zhejiang, China

This study analyzes an office building located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang region, with a high assembly rate of 96.8%. Based on whole-process records and first-hand factory data, using an original method, we empirically investigate the carbon emissions associated to the assembly production and construction phase by comparing the results collected in the field with the calculation results for the simulated non-prefabricated building. The calculation results show that the production and construction stage of the prefabricated office building is characterized by a large reduction in carbon emissions, where the total measured carbon emissions of the subject building were 2265.73 tCO2e, which is 22 kgCO2e/m2 less than that under the non-prefabricated method. In the future development of China’s construction industry, taking Zhejiang Province as an example, the implementation of prefabricated office buildings with a PEC structure system can effectively reduce carbon emissions, which can help China to achieve the carbon peak as soon as possible.