The construction industry, characterized by high energy consumption and carbon emissions, plays a pivotal role in climate change mitigation. This paper employs bibliometric analysis, based on 282 articles from the SCIE and SSCI in the Web of Science spanning 1992–2022, to explore research trends and themes in Carbon Emissions of Construction Industry (CECI). A manual review was conducted to identify challenges and possibilities concerning accounting scales, objects, boundaries, and methods in CECI research. Key findings include (1) temporal and thematic evolution, with a notable increase in research activity since 2015, primarily focusing on energy efficiency, sustainable development, green building technologies, and policy evaluation; (2) scale-specific gaps, as 80.7% of studies are conducted at macro (national/regional) or micro (building/material) levels, while city-scale analyses are significantly underrepresented, with only 13 articles identified; (3) object granularity deficiencies, with 74.8% of studies not distinguishing between building types, resulting in rural residential, educational, and office buildings being significantly underrepresented; (4) system boundary limitations, as few studies account for emissions from building demolition or the disposal and recycling of construction waste, indicating a substantial gap in life-cycle carbon assessments. Furthermore, the predominant reliance on the carbon emission factor method, along with embedded assumptions in accounting processes, presents challenges for improving carbon accounting accuracy. This review synthesizes insights into prevailing research scales, object classifications, system boundaries, and methodological practices, and highlights the urgent need for more granular, lifecycle-based, and methodologically diverse approaches. These findings provide a foundation for advancing CECI research toward more comprehensive, accurate, and context-sensitive carbon assessments in the construction sector.

Household energy consumption is one of the major drivers of carbon emissions, and an in-depth analysis of its influencing factors, along with forecasting carbon emission trajectories, is crucial for achieving China’s carbon emission targets. This study reviews the research progress on urban household energy-related carbon emissions (HErC) in China since 2000, with a focus on the latest developments in influencing factors. The study categorizes these factors into five major groups: household characteristics, economic attributes, energy consumption features, awareness and norms, and policies and interventions. The findings indicate that income levels, energy efficiency, and household size are the key determinants of urban HErC of China and are commonly used as core assumptions in scenario-based forecasts of emission trends. In addition, although environmental awareness and government services have increasingly garnered attention, their specific effects require further investigation due to the challenges in quantification. A synthesis of existing forecasting studies suggests that, without the implementation of effective measures, HErC will continue to rise, and the peak emission period will be delayed. Enhancing building and energy efficiency, promoting low-carbon consumption and clean energy applications, and implementing multidimensional coordinated policies are considered the most effective pathways for emission reduction.

Natural ventilation (NV) is an effective passive strategy for reducing building cooling demand, yet its performance varies substantially with climate and may not increase proportionally with larger openings. This study examines the nonlinear cooling benefits of NV in detached residential buildings under different climatic conditions in Japan using dynamic building energy simulation. Eight representative cities were selected to evaluate how regional temperature and humidity influence NV availability, indoor thermal response, and cooling-energy demand under multiple window-opening scenarios. The results reveal strong climate dependence. In temperate regions, NV provides the greatest cooling benefits by enhancing nighttime heat dissipation and reducing multi-day indoor heat accumulation. In cold regions, cooling demand is relatively low, resulting in limited or negligible net cooling-energy benefits from NV. In warm-humid regions, high moisture conditions significantly weaken the cooling effect of larger openings. Across all climates, the relationship between window opening area and cooling-energy savings is nonlinear and not universally monotonic. In seven of the eight cities, the 5% opening scenario provides the best annual cooling-energy performance among the examined non-zero opening conditions. These findings indicate that NV design should be climate-responsive rather than based on uniform opening assumptions and provide practical guidance for region-specific residential cooling strategies.