Abstract
Container-based lightweight buildings offer a high ecologic and economic potential when they are designed as nearly zero-energy container buildings (NZECBs). Thus, they are relevant to energy transition in achieving an almost climate-neutral building stock. This paper describes and applies design strategies for suitable building concepts and energy systems to be used in NZECBs for different climates. Therefore, different applications in representative climatic zones were selected. Initially, the global climate zones were characterized and analyzed with regard to their potential for self-sufficiency and renewable energies in buildings. The design strategies were further developed and demonstrated for three cases: a single-family house in Sweden, a multi-family house in Germany, and a small school building in rural Ethiopia. For each case, design guidelines were derived and building concepts were developed. On the basis of these input data, various energy concepts were developed in which solar and wind energy, as well as biomass, were integrated as renewable energy sources. All the concepts were simulated and analyzed with the Polysun® software. The various approaches were compared and evaluated, particularly with regard to energy self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency rates up to 80% were achieved. Finally, the influence of different climate zones on the energy efficiency of the single-family house was studied as well as the influence of the size of battery storage and insulation.
Highlights
IntroductionOwing to the advantages of inherent strength, modular construction, and relatively low costs, the role of containers functioning as building modules has gained in popularity over the past years
Owing to their lightweight construction, container buildings have economic and ecological advantages that can be further increased by using recycled containers
The goal of almost-zero energy container buildings was achieved through the use of specific wall constructions with vacuum insulation panels and phase-change materials as well as with the design of various renewable energy systems consisting of photovoltaics, battery storage, solar thermal energy, and air and geothermal heat pumps, as well as combined heat and power plants
Summary
Owing to the advantages of inherent strength, modular construction, and relatively low costs, the role of containers functioning as building modules has gained in popularity over the past years. They can be one solution to the above challenges in terms of prefabricated or modular buildings. Flexible and quickly assembled modular container buildings usually consist of one or more standardized individual containers with size restrictions that depend in particular on what can be safely and economically built and transported. Prefabricated modular buildings are still affected by some deficiencies in both design and certain technical aspects, being unable to meet the occupant’s requirements for thermal comfort and energy saving throughout the life cycle of the building
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