Carbon Emissions Assessment for Building Decoration Based on Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study of Office Buildings

Abstract

The continuous growth of interior decoration activities has caused a massive consumption of energy and materials, which has contributed to a large amount of carbon emissions in the construction sector. The carbon emissions of building decoration were overlooked in previous studies. Hence, the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was employed to build a life cycle carbon emissions model for building decoration. An office building was selected to verify the availability. The results show that the carbon emissions intensity of the decoration project was 254.5 kg CO2 eq/m2. The operation stage was the most crucial carbon emissions contributor in the life cycle of building decoration, accounting for 49.8%; followed by the materials embodied impact stage, which contributed 36.3%; while the remaining three stages, namely, the decoration, transportation, and end-of-life stage, had less carbon emissions, accounting for 6.8%, 5.3%, and 1.8%. Improving the performance of inorganic materials, optimizing transportation routes and energy structure, and dismantling plan optimization can reduce carbon emissions. The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis and fundamental data for carbon emissions reduction and sustainable development strategies for building decoration.