The Life Cycle Embodied Carbon of Off-site Constructed Precast Concrete Structures

The seriousness of global warming is increasingly being recognized worldwide, and there is a growing need to precisely understand the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the construction industry. Particularly, with increasing interest in Off-Site Construction (OSC) technology in the domestic construction sector, it has become urgent to assess the embodied carbon emissions of concrete structural products produced in factories, known for their high inherent carbon emissions, as concrete is one of the most widely used materials in the construction industry. In this study, the embodied carbon emissions of precast concrete (PC) which is a representative off-site construction structure, were calculated based on actual data of PC manufacturing factories. Data on inputs, processes, outputs were collected from five representative PC factories in Korea. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to calculate and analyze the embodied carbon impact of PC throughout its life cycle. The results of this study are expected to serve as fundamental data for establishing sustainable application methods for domestic OSC technology in the future.