A Novel Concept of Container House with Zero Energetic Consumption

This paper presents a novel concept of acclimatized container to increase people comfort in case of temporary housing. It is based on the ZEBRA concept (Zero Energy Building Renewable Addicted) concept studied by Università of Modena e Reggio Emilia. The original concept developed for industrial building has been extended to mobile metallic housing systems such as the containers transported by trucks which are used for troops and military command during field operations. This system does not require any external source of energy. It requires only the presence of a water well or drilling a hole to place inside a closed loop exchanger which is used to stabilize temperature of internal water which is used as a dynamic thermal barrier which maintains in the wellness conditions inside the mobile housing equipment. Energetic costs of this system are related only to the very reduced energy necessary for water pumping operations. It could be easily produced, together with necessary energy for light and instrumentation by a photovoltaic ceiling. The absence of fenestrations will be obviated by optic-fiber-based external light capturing and distributing, together with air ventilation system. This paper presents the energetic balance of this military field and building concept which can be used also to reduce the surplus of naval container in the harbors of all the occidental countries due to the necessity of the cargo ships to navigate with a high load. By these reasons the presented Zebra concept can be not only a zero energy consumption solution but also a very inexpensive solution for any temporary residential exigency such as temporary construction sites and military camps. Constructive details and container temporary housing design are provided.