Applications of Information Technology in Building Carbon Flow

The construction industry, as one of the three major carbon emission (CE) industries, accounts for about 39% of the global CE. Thus, approaches for energy saving and emission reduction (ES/ER) cannot be delayed. With the advent of the Industry 4.0 era, information technology (IT) is used to investigate CE in the construction industry, which provides great convenience for measuring and calculating building carbon emissions (BCE) and proposing effective ES/ER measures. However, limited studies have provided a holistic overview of the application of IT in BCE. To fill this gap, this study searched related articles and screened 170 relevant papers. Based on the characteristics of the literature, building carbon flow (BCF) was defined. Based on scientometric analysis and network mapping analysis, combined with quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, the functions, advantages, and limitations of IT in each stage of BCF research were reviewed. Finally, the research trends and future research directions of IT in the BCF were discussed. Specifically, the building information model technology penetrates the whole process of BCF research, deep learning and artificial intelligence have great potential in BCF research, and multi-information technology integration will become the focus of subsequent research in the construction industry.