Integrated carbon emission estimation method for construction operation and project scheduling

Abstract

This paper presents a computational method that calculates the amount of carbon emission generated in a construction project. It is coded into carbon emission estimation system (CE2) that makes use of schedule information exported from Primavera P6, integrates either the deterministic amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by resources (i.e., material, equipment, and labor) on activities obtained from P6 database or the stochastic amount of GHG emissions obtained from discrete event simulation-based construction operation models, performs CPM calculations, and calculates the daily and cumulative amount of carbon emissions for each and every activity. This study is of value to researchers because it allows quantifying the total carbon generated in a construction project by considering all types of resources to be used in construction operations. The study is also of relevance to practitioners because it enables to establish engineering schedule that limits carbon emissions at construction phase expeditiously. A test case verifies the usability and validity of the computational methods implemented in the system. It is confirmed that CE2 effectively handles the variability of GHG using deterministic or stochastic data either jointly or independently.