Integrating IoT and Blockchain to Monitor Embodied Carbon of Modular Buildings

The construction industry is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 37% of global emissions, among which embodied carbon of modular buildings cannot be ignored. Although many studies have been conducted on monitoring the embodied carbon of modular buildings, there are still limitations, such as a lack of real-time and transparent data, fragmented and isolated systems, and inconsistent measurement and reporting standards. Therefore, this study aims to develop a real-time embodied carbon monitoring system for modular buildings. The system consists of three essential parts: (1) Firstly, through the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, the system can automatically monitor and collect data from equipment such as factory processing machines, transport vehicles, and on-site installation equipment, etc. (2) Secondly, the data from the isolated system and the data collected by IoT sensors are stored in blockchain, which can ensure the transparency and credibility of the data. (3) Thirdly, the system has a visual web platform that presents and reports the embodied carbon, which uses a uniform life cycle assessment (LCA) method using the collected data. The study developed a novel multi-technological embodied carbon monitoring system, which will be applied to the Kowloon Tong student hostel being constructed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to test its effectiveness. We anticipate that the system can help monitor and manage carbon emissions during construction. This system provides a valuable implication and practical demonstration for the embodied carbon monitoring of modular buildings.