ABSTRACT
Offsite construction manufacturers have often promoted their processes as a sustainable approach largely due to the waste reduction strategies in their facilities. Indeed, the amount of construction waste for a prefabricated building is typically less than that of conventional construction. This is largely due to efficient procurement processes, the convenience of recycling from one facility, and the ability of offsite facilities to conveniently reuse some ‘waste’ material in the next project going down the line. Onsite homebuilders typically order materials and products as needed for one building at a time, and may make many ad hoc trips to building supply stores to procure materials as needed. Offsite energy use data for the modular companies were derived from annual utility bills for electricity and heating fuels, which were converted into energy units and scaled by annual production volumes. Onsite energy use was determined in a bottom-up fashion from the construction schedule estimate.
