On November 27, Dr. Xu Jinying, Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore, participated in our university's' Frontiers in Intelligent Construction and Smart City Research 'forum, delivering an insightful lecture titled' Advancing Carbon Management with Ontology-Driven Data Collection' to faculty and students.
Professor Xu stated that the UK National Highways Agency has officially adopted a three-tiered carbon reduction target: "Zero-carbon internal operations by 2030, near-zero carbon in construction and maintenance by 2040, and zero emissions for road users by 2050." This means that starting in 2027, all new highway projects must submit an "auditable carbon budget" during the bidding phase, with fines imposed if the error exceeds ±5%. After 2030, the carbon budget will be directly linked to project payments, and the carbon savings will be split 50-50 between the contracting parties.
Professor Xu developed an ontology-based structured database that consolidates 12 data categories—including purchase orders, BOM lists, location coordinates, weather conditions, and traffic flow—into a unified "carbon data lake." Leveraging LLM technology, the system automatically extracts carbon emissions across five phases: materials, equipment, transportation, construction, and operation and maintenance, reducing manual data entry by 80%. Additionally, he introduced the "Carbon Data Trust Index" (CDTI), which evaluates data through six dimensions: availability, quality, compatibility, security, consistency, and timeliness. The index is stored on the blockchain for verification and is accessible to financial institutions, insurance companies, and regulatory bodies.
As Professor Xu stated: "Our generation must not only build taller, faster, and safer buildings, but also ensure every kilogram of carbon is traceable, manageable, and tradable."
