From the beginning of time man aims for separating a piece from the surrounding space and call it home. The most important criterion of home is that it should be able to protect its occupant from the rigours of the natural environment. When we look at the history of mankind we can establish that by today, it is not only protection that a house can provide for its occupants, but also the climatic conditions inside are completely independent from the environment in which a house sits. People use a huge amount of natural resourcesfor this purpose, as 40% of all the energy-consumption of the Earth is used for the heating, the cooling or the lighting of buildings. In the developing regions of Earth, where the growth of the population and of the economy reaches such dimensions as never before, energy used for such purposes puts the natural and economic balance of our planet at a hazard even more. Most probably, in the near future, those people who live in these countries also want to live in buildings that offer higher comfort. As the population of these countries is much higher than that of more developed countries, the demand for living places with high comfort levels is forecasted to increase dramatically, and the energy use will increase too, parallel with this trend. The barrack-city syndrome, characteristic of the large cities of developing countries could be handled without problems only in that case, if we are able to quickly replace large numbers of such living places eliminated at the same time, and if we are able to address this issue in awareness for energy saving. The responsive container we have designed opens the way for creating comfortable,either temporary or permanent,living places also in areas with low infrastructure.
Another important area in which our containers could be used is providing support for organisations that operate in areas hit by humanitarian disasters. In such cases not only the lack or low amount of electricity or other energy sources at the future installation-place of the container is problematic, but also the fluctuation of climatic factors in the various climatic zones of the Earth may be problematic, posing different requirements in terms of air conditioning on these modules for housing. The ideal solution is a housing module that behaves as a passive house i.e. is adaptable and responsive to climatic challenges.
For this reason we set the creation of such a container as the aim of our project that can be used in/delivered to any climatic zone and whose energy demand is only the fraction of the solutions we have met in the past, and passive ways can be used for the minimalisation of the energy demand..
This is the reason why we gave the name „ENERGY BOX” to our project.
We must know exactly what requirements should such a housing module meet, so that we can draw up the necessary properties of the module. We defined five important aspects in our work:
- Simple transportation
- Low energy use during its operation period
- Autonomous functioning – it should work also in areas with low infrastructure
- Low construction costs
- Variability in terms of architecture, variable functionality; it should be suitable to bebuilt in rows
If we can find the right answers for these challenges, especially for that of low energy consumption, thenit can be used as a model in the developing countries, as they can omit steps of evolution, getting directly to the era of energy awareness. The cheapest energy is the unused energy.
The following are our answers for the challenges:
1.In order to ensure easy transportability and portability it is a must that the container should be in conformity,in its dimensions,with the ISO standards. It is the only way to ensure simple and quick transportation by water, land, or air. Accordingly, the dimensions of our container are as follows:
length:30’(9125mm); width:8’(2435mm); height:8’6(2603mm).
The unit must be equipped with grips in accordance with the standard and with a frame that withstands static stresses.
There are not only material approaches to the transportability issue. Containers with differing properties are suitable for different climates. There is a special, replaceable component of the envelope that ensures this „climatic flexibility” for our
container. Thus energy use is minimised for its basic functionality, so is thedependence on the existence and operation of infrastructure.
- In terms of temperature the wall-structure of a traditional container with thermal insulation is able to withstand the effects of the ambient environment without any considerable heating or cooling systems applied. The energy demand of such containers is high, which cannot always be met smoothly. Normally their energy demand is satisfied by electricity, which is one of the most expensive sources of energy (generation costs of 1 kWh energy are as follows: by electricity: 0,12 €; by benzine:0,06 €; and by natural gas: 0,04 €)
In the case of a container this problem is made even graver by the large specific surface compared to the heated/cooled volume, causing high heat losses.
The solution is to develop such a wall structure which has properties similar to the traditionally built wall structures in terms of building physics:
- the heat delay is several hours long
- thermal attenuation is high
- capable of storing thermal energy
- low heat transmission.
Traditional solutions are not viable due to the properties of housing containers (transportability, low-weight perimeter structures, etc.)
Therefore we have developed a completely new solution for this problem having installed a special material in the wall structure: the so-called phase-changing material.
Phase-changing material:
This is a special material that changes its physical condition under the effect of temperature changes in the ambient environment, but before the change in its state of matter takes place, it takes up or emits considerable energy. The properties of the compound define at which grade of temperature this change in physical condition takes place, therefore it can be custom-made in accordance with the requirements of the various climates; as well as it can be calibrated to personal needs when equipped by an intelligent control system.
When a panel incorporating phase-changing material is situated in such a place within the wall structure that is optimised in terms of HVAC engineering, then this panel works both as a heat-accumulator and a heat-exchanger at the same time:
On the one hand it carries out heat attenuation, ensuring a period of delay for the wall structure, which assumes this way the properties of a traditional wall (its heat storing capacity being identical with that of a 40-cm thick ceramic structure, when appropriate layer structure is ensured); on the other hand it compensates the difference between the outer and the inner temperatures, storing thermal energy when necessary.
The system works efficiently especially at those areas where the daily variation in temperatures is high.
Example: desert climate
In daytime, the phase-changing material absorbs the heat of hot air, while the outbound ventilation air also cools it down. In night-time the cold ambient air takes up the heat stored by the phase-changing material and the used, outwards flowing air also transmits its heat. It can effectively equalize the daily temperature variation (50°C). As the container works as a single space with a conditioned air volume, the result achieved this way may „fly out” easily through the door. This problem is eliminated by using a buffer area.
The same container flat can be used for any climatic conditions without considerable changes, only by replacing the phase-changer panels calibrated for different climates. When we know the destination, we also know the climatic conditions that are characteristic at the given geographic area, therefore we can select in advance the type of the phase-changer panel to be used, as well as the type of the intelligent control system for the operation.
The best possible level of daylighting is also a must in ensuring an appropriate comfort feeling. By maintaining the required level of lighting, one half of the recess for the window is provided by transparent heat insulation in order to ensure better results in thermal insulation.
3. The use of phase-changing material as heat-accumulator and heat-exchanger reduces the demand for energy necessary for the functioning so much, that the container can be used in those areas too where the appropriate infrastructure is missing or is out of function. For instance, in the case of a container-hospital, the majority of energy is used for the cooling or heating of the containers. This fact may lead to an operational inability of the hospital in areas without electricity networks. In our case the energy demand of air conditioning is so low that it can be satisfied by small-surface photovoltaic batteries and solar-energy collectors.
4.A typical building consumes energy throughout its life cycle, which isas much in value as the construction costs of the given building. The energy consumption by the building itself is increased further by the increasing demand of people for more and more air-conditioned facilities, the need for natural lighting, etc.
In the case of a container building, whose energy balance is much worse, the above-mentioned ratio may be as high as 3-4 times of its construction costs. Further costs are needed for repairing the injuries that may occur in transportation.
So how does a cheap container flat look like? It has a massive structure, so that it can endure permanent stresses. Its operating costs are low, saving multiple of the container’s initial construction costs.
The container we have designed ensures appropriate level of natural lighting too, through transparent heat insulation (which is, on the one hand, cheaper than the heat-insulating glass-panel solution and on the other hand, its heat-insulating properties are better, which also contributes to improving the energy balance).
5.The logo is a pictogram well known in consumer society: a barcode (like those used normally for marking the price of a product). This logo is an indication that everything has its price, also the energy that has been wasted. The actual amount of this price will be known by the future generations only. This logo expresses that the most important feature of our concept is energy saving, and the efficient and economic utilisation of resources. For this reason we undertake to not use any costly and autotelic design elements on these units.
The cover of the container, that is reminiscent of a barcode, refers to this austere and economical approach.
In developing the architectural concept another important aspect was to use the existing ISO standard for the dimensions of the container, in order to ensure its transportability. We equipped the entrance with a buffer anteroom made from tarpaulin. The end-wall can be opened, and thus it is suitable for the storing of large objects (e.g. when the necessary equipment are transported). When two containers are built together, the window, and the wall module with transparent heat insulation located under the window, functions like a door.
For the internal design we used the „container in a container”principle. The sanitary block can be installed in the container in the form of a single unit. This solution yields functional variability, the construction of the container becomes easier, and rows can be formed from it with common or separate sanoitary blocks.