A Life-Cycle Analysis for Both Energy and Cost of Precast Concrete Building Components: A Process-Based Model

Precast concrete (PC) building has ability to promote construction productivity, which attracts the concerns of China government. Most of the previous studies separately analyzed the environment performance or the cost of the PC buildings, failing to combine these two indicators together. This leads to real benefit achieved through the prefabrication unclear for the decision makers in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, which would hurt the adoption of precast concrete in China. This research employs a process-based life-cycle analysis (LCA) method to examine both the energy consumption and cost of the PC components during the whole building life-cycle, including manufacture, transportation, assembly, and recycling. To further describe the process of the method, a case study is conducted. A connection between energy and cost of buildings is found through literature review, based on which the method of evaluating both the environmental and economic performance is proposed. The model proposed in this research builds a calculation and analysis basis for both the environmental and economic performance of the PC components, providing guidance for future studies analyzing multiple indicators of PC construction.