Embodied Carbon Benchmarks for Residential Buildings in Taiwan

Department of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

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Abstract

While embodied carbon (EC) research in buildings has been extensively conducted over the past decades, practical benchmarking of Embodied Carbon Intensity (ECI) remains relatively limited compared to the well-established Energy Use Intensity (EUI) standards in building policies. This gap between academic research and practical implementation underscores the need for more comprehensive ECI benchmarking studies to support evidence-based policymaking. Despite global advancements in empirical case studies and benchmarking for embodied carbon, there remains a significant absence of localized benchmarks that accurately reflect construction practices specific to various regions. In this study, we conducted a benchmarking project to assess the Embodied Carbon Intensity (ECI) of residential buildings by analyzing data from 37 multi-family residential buildings in Taiwan. The results show that ECI over the entire life cycle ranges approximately from 420.60 to 624.72 (kg CO₂e/m²-60yr), with an average of 502.45 (kg CO₂e/m²-60yr) and a standard deviation of 55.71 (kg CO₂e/m²•60yr). Furthermore, among all life cycle stages, the manufacturing and transportation stages (A1-A4) account for the highest proportion at approximately 82.90%. Among sub-projects, the main structure accounts for the highest proportion at approximately 58.56%.