Analysis on CO2 emissions of construction industry in China based on life cycle assessment

Abstract

Construction industry has a great contribution to energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the world. In this paper, CO2 emissions of construction industry are calculated based on the method of life cycle assessment (LCA) from 2004 to 2010. According to life cycle theory, building life cycle is divided into four parts, namely building materials production, construction, operation and maintenance, and demolition waste. For the convenience of statistical analysis, the constructing, building maintenance, and demolition waste were merged into one part named the new construction. The results present the macrobuilding CO2 emissions were 3.7 billion tons, accounting for 44.7 % of the China's CO2 emissions in 2010. Among the macrobuilding CO2 emissions, the averaged annual percentage of materials production, new construction, and operation phase were 40, 3, and 57 %, respectively. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.