Factors That Influence the Quantification of the Embodied Carbon Emission of Prefabricated Buildings: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and the Way Forward

Prefabricated buildings and off-site construction are increasingly adopted in modern construction. As one of the most concerning environmental impacts, the embodied carbon emission of prefabricated buildings has been extensively investigated in recent years. Due to the various influencing factors of carbon quantification, such as building characteristics, quantification boundary, emission sources, and quantification methods, no consensus has been reached so far. The impacts of the influencing factors on carbon quantification remain unclear. To fill this gap, this paper provides a systematic review and meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the recent research concerning the quantification of the embodied carbon emission of prefabricated buildings. In total, 43 peer-reviewed articles (96 building cases) were screened and analyzed. Twelve influencing factors of embodied carbon quantification have been identified and analyzed to give rise to a synthesized conclusion. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that the embodied carbon emission of prefabricated buildings varied significantly from 26.6 to 1644.4 kgCO2e/m² in the reviewed literature. The results showed that some of the quantification factors could significantly influence the quantification results, such as the building structure forms, level of prefabrication, type of greenhouse gas considered, and data sources, while some factors have a lesser impact on carbon quantification results, such as the function of the building, quantification methods adopted, quantification tools/software used, and carbon inventory databases applied. The findings of this research provide readers with an in-depth and critical understanding of the quantification of the embodied carbon emission of prefabricated buildings. Research gaps and suggestions for future research are also provided based on the results of this work.

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