Quantification of Carbon Emissions of Building Decoration Processes

The continuous growth in building decoration activities has led to significant energy and material consumption, increasing carbon emissions in the construction sector. Existing literature frequently overlooks the carbon impact of building decorations. This study employs the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to quantify the carbon emissions associated with building decorations across five typic building types: residential, hospital, educational, sports cultural, and office buildings. Data were gathered using a mix of field investigations, document reviews, and semi-structured interviews, ensuring comprehensive coverage of all life cycle stages. The results reveal that carbon emission intensities of the studied building decorations ranged from 70.01 to 298.79 kg CO₂ eq/m², with the lowest emissions found in educational buildings and the highest in sports and cultural buildings. The decoration material production stage consistently emerges as the major contributor to emissions, accounting for over 50% of the life cycle of carbon emissions across all building types. The transportation stage also represents a significant share, contributing 18.6% to 24.5% across the building types. It also indicates that ceiling engineering as well as wall and column engineering are the primary carbon emission sources in terms of decoration activities. This study systematically compares the carbon emission characteristics of building decorations across multiple building types, addressing a gap that has been largely overlooked in the existing literature. It highlights the key sources of carbon emissions and proposes targeted mitigation strategies. The findings also suggest future research directions, including the application of innovative low-carbon materials, advanced construction technologies, and optimization of logistics. These insights lay a solid foundation for future low-carbon design and construction practices within the building sector.