Evaluating energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in fiberglass prefabricated modular structures

Abstract

Fiberglass (FG) modular buildings are gaining increasing attention in the construction industry due to their adaptability, and potential for cost and time savings. This study compares the FG modular, house-like cubicles to concrete counter parts with respect to the environmental impacts and cost. The scope of the study encompasses the production and operational phase, especially air conditioning (AC) systems in hyper-arid climates. The effectiveness of insulation, quantified through R-value calculations, is evaluated across varying insulation thicknesses using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results indicate that AC energy requirements significantly contribute to the climate change impact (CCH), accounting for 77 % and 90.5 %, in concrete and FG modules respectively. FG modules exhibit significantly higher environmental impacts compared to concrete modules in agricultural land occupation (+142.7 %), terrestrial ecotoxicity (+80.6 %), and urban land occupation (+66 %). Employing Net Present Value (NPV), the annual cost for FG and concrete modules was USD 963.9 and USD 550.8 per year, respectively. Sensitivity analysis indicates that increasing insulation (+5.00 cm) in FG modules reduces that annual cost due to cooling by 16.55 %, reduces CCH by 59.47 % but increases metal depletion by 130 %. This signifies the importance of incorporating the use phase when evaluating innovative building materials and methods.