Track: Sustainable Manufacturing

Abstract

Buildings account for a substantial portion of environmental burdens. To help resolve this issue, the fundamental aim of this research is to assess the modular prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) of buildings and compare this method to a concrete individual panel system (IPS). This mode of construction is still nascent in many countries. Therefore, the environmental and economic impacts of PPVC concrete must be determined and compared to IPS concrete. The results show that materials production is the most significant phase, as it contributes to 60% of total GHG and 70% of total cost. The results indicate that PPVC is associated with a 5% decrease in GHG emissions when compared to IPS; further, the cost of IPS for a single-family house is 1.3% higher than that of PPVC. The leading factor that influences the cost of PPVC is the design process, which is 2.5 times more expensive than IPS design. However, the assessment of multi-story buildings shows the opposite result. The results in this regard show that PPVC is 1% cheaper and 3% more environmentally friendly than IPS. Therefore, PPVC might be a more sustainable construction method than IPS.