Material Use and Embodied Carbon Intensity of New Construction Buildings in North America

Material Use and Embodied Carbon Intensity of New Construction Buildings in North America | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Material Use and Embodied Carbon Intensity of New Construction Buildings in North America Milad Ashtiani, Brad Benke, Yang Shen, Kathrina Simonen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6315460/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Buildings are a major consumer of raw materials and emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet data on their metrics (i.e., material use and embodied carbon, respectively) remain limited. This study investigates the material use intensity (MUI) and embodied carbon intensity (ECI) of new construction commercial and multi-family residential buildings in North America using data from 243 whole-building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) models. The study provides MUI and ECI values, defined in units of mass and embodied carbon per building floor area, across different building typologies, structural systems, and material categorization schemes. The results show high variability in MUI and ECI across buildings, demonstrating the importance of integrating building characteristics and material-level information into material use and embodied carbon data. The study also establishes MUI and ECI by materials and highlights the dominant role of a relatively small subset of categories (i.e., concrete, steel, masonry, insulation, and aluminum) in both metrics. To support broader use of these findings, the study publishes open-access code and an interactive visualization dashboard, enabling policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to refine analyses and improve tailored decision-making. Environmental Engineering Architecture, Design and Planning Civil Engineering embodied carbon material use life cycle assessment building construction visualization Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6315460","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":434516061,"identity":"89217e84-bb5b-402f-a31f-72be9a92ecdb","order_by":0,"name":"Milad Ashtiani","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHgaGBCDJD+awEaeFsQGkRbKBJC0gyuAAsVr4+88ef/Cg5o6M8Y0cA4YPZYcJa5G4kZfYkHDsGY8ZUAvjjHNEaGG4wWPYkMB2GKgldwMzbxsRWuTPnwFq+XeYx3gGUMtfYrQYHMgxbEhsO8xjIAHUwkiMFsMbOYYzEvsO80icef/hYM+5dMJa5M6fMfj449the/72tMQHP8qsCWtBAQdIVD8KRsEoGAWjABcAAFZtPkex1QdHAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2851-4025","institution":"University of Washington","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Milad","middleName":"","lastName":"Ashtiani","suffix":""},{"id":434516062,"identity":"31330d40-e5d7-4440-b19a-1a56814225dd","order_by":1,"name":"Brad Benke","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0667-0391","institution":"University of Washington","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Brad","middleName":"","lastName":"Benke","suffix":""},{"id":434516063,"identity":"fa5e0ad0-9bf8-4ae2-8473-93e82e2dc675","order_by":2,"name":"Yang Shen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7944-2546","institution":"University of Washington","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yang","middleName":"","lastName":"Shen","suffix":""},{"id":434516064,"identity":"0da4ddd2-751c-4adb-8309-d29bcc615456","order_by":3,"name":"Kathrina Simonen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4028-6475","institution":"University of Washington","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kathrina","middleName":"","lastName":"Simonen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-26 22:09:30","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6315460/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6315460/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":79406373,"identity":"058cc414-2798-4bb4-a93b-7f189c588800","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-28 04:17:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2209061,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"C1.2MaterialIntensityPaperPreprint.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6315460/v1_covered_aea1f5d1-2c20-4c92-b4ec-6da6b8913b28.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eMaterial Use and Embodied Carbon Intensity of New Construction Buildings in North America\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"University of Washington","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"embodied carbon, material use, life cycle assessment, building, construction, visualization","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6315460/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6315460/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eBuildings are a major consumer of raw materials and emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet data on their metrics (i.e., material use and embodied carbon, respectively) remain limited. 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