DEVELOPING A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF CARBON REDUCTION RESEARCH IN CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

The construction industry has been proven to be increasingly detrimental to the environment in the past few decades. As environmental awareness expands, efforts to reduce the carbon intensive sector into a sustainable and environmentally friendly industry increase. It is indisputable that the efforts put in place to transform such a sector. Subsequently, the studies associated with carbon reduction development have also funneled into three streams: technology advancement, mechanism establishment and organizational behavior. However, research until now has focused on these streams independently. This paper presents a study that aims to take a holistic approach in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of previous studies on carbon reduction in construction. A systematic review was conducted and the results came to expose five prevalent and determining factors that catalyze the success and failures of carbon reduction research. The discussion of these factors with their association to technology advancement, mechanism establishment and organizational behavior have uncovered suggestions, that researchers in future can focus on in order to foster carbon reduction within the construction industry. A conceptual framework of carbon reduction research in construction was then developed.