Today, buildings are responsible for more than 40% of global energy used, and as much as 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions, both in developed and developing countries. In this paper, a life cycle energy (LCEA) and carbon dioxide emissions (LCCO(2)A) analysis of two residential buildings has been conducted. The study includes the literature review, the data used for such a comprehensive analysis, and methodology and provides an application of the methodology that considers two actual residential buildings constructed in Gaziantep, Turkey. The proposed model focused on building construction, operation and demolition phases to estimate total energy use and carbon emissions over a 50 year lifespan. Energy efficiency and emissions parameters are defined for the buildings per square meter basis. It is found that the operation phase is dominant in both urban and rural residential buildings and contributes 76-73% of the primary energy requirements and 59-74% of CO2 emissions, respectively. The embodied energy (EE) of the buildings accounts for 24-27% of the overall life-cycle energy consumption. The results show that, because of the differences in building structures, living standards and air conditioning habits, the life cycle energy demand in rural residential buildings is 18% lower than in urban conditions. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.