Carbon Footprint Analysis of Industrialised Building System in Malaysia

Abstract

The topic on sustainability of Industrialised Building System (IBS) in the construction industry of Malaysia is always debatable and questionable. This study is carried out to determine the carbon footprint of a typical commercial project with the application of IBS. In this paper, IBS is classified to aluminium formwork system and fully precast concrete structure. The carbon footprint is quantified with life cycle assessment (LCA) of the building dividing into production phase of materials, transportation phase and construction phase. Whereas the study adopted data of embodied carbon of materials and carbon emission factor from reliable external source to estimate the total carbon emission of the project with the application of IBS. The outcome of carbon footprint is compared with conventional building method to identify the sustainability of each building method. Based on the data analysis, the application of precast concrete has the lowest carbon footprint as compared to cast-in situ with aluminium formwork and timber formwork. Although the carbon emission from the transportation of precast concrete elements is relatively high, but the overall carbon footprint is still the lowest among the other building method. The amount of carbon emission of the commercial project with IBS construction is 0.342 tonnes \({\text{CO}}_{2}\) per meter square. The production of construction materials that contributed the most to the carbon footprint is concrete, followed by steel rebar and formwork. The findings in this study is very useful for future research on carbon footprint of construction in Malaysia. The study also helps to raise awareness towards sustainable construction with the application of IBS in Malaysia.