Study on the Carbon Emissions in the Whole Construction Process of Prefabricated Floor Slab

The construction industry is characterized by high energy consumption and high carbon emissions. With growing concern about climate change, environmental protection is becoming increasingly important. In this paper, the whole construction process of prefabricated floor slab (PFS) is divided into three stages: production, transportation, and construction stages. Carbon emissions are calculated based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. A case study of PFS construction in Shaoxing city, China, was examined, and the calculation results were compared and evaluated with the traditional construction methods, which showed that in the production stage, carbon emissions increased due to mechanical operations during the prefabrication process. In the transportation stage, carbon emissions also increased due to the heavier prefabricated components during the transportation process. During the on-site construction stage, carbon emissions considerably decreased due to the lower hoisting frequency and less on-site pouring.