Flow Analysis of Construction Materials and Environmental Transition Pathways to Decarbonize Residential Buildings

Rapid urbanization and global growth have made sustainable infrastructure a dire necessity. In hot arid regions, rising heat index levels intensify cooling demand and accelerate construction activity. Reducing emissions from concrete is critical to mitigate climate change. This study integrates BIM in Revit with EC3 to quantify GWP and total use of renewable/non-renewable primary resources at the product stage. A residential building is used to evaluate variations in environmental performance across multiple material scenarios (carbon intensive, energy transition, and green scenarios). Results reveal substantial differences in embodied carbon across scenarios. The carbon intensive scenario accounts for a total GWP of 649 tCO2e, while the green scenario reduces emissions to 381 tCO2e, which represents a reduction of 42%. Walls and floors are identified as the dominant contributors to embodied carbon due to high concrete volumes, with raw material extraction accounting for the largest share of emissions. Substituting conventional concrete walls with lightweight concrete walls reduces the total GWP by 28%. In addition, planed timber exhibits near zero emissions due to biogenic carbon storage and shows the highest renewable primary energy use among assessed materials. The proposed framework provides a practical approach for evaluating embodied carbon emissions and supports informed material selection for more sustainable building design.