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Towards sustainable architecture - A case with Greentainer

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DOI: 10.1080/13549830903575596

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Towards sustainable architecture – a case with

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School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University Chennai, Sardar Patel Road,
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 Local Environment
Vol. 15, No. 3, March 2010, 245–259

Towards sustainable architecture – a case with Greentainer

J. Vijayalaxmi

School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University Chennai, Sardar Patel Road,
Chennai, 600025, India

Sustainable and green architecture must consider not only recycled materials but also
reuse of materials. This paper focuses on a building whose envelope is made of a
shipping container, called Greentainer, which is a reused material. This building is
located in the hot-humid tropical climate of Chennai, India. The most effective
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passive means of achieving thermal comfort in hot-humid climate is through comfort

ventilation, which is the concept used in the Greentainer. A comparison of the
environmental repercussions in terms of embodied energy of the Greentainer and a
notional building of same size made of conventional building material in the study
area of Chennai, India is performed. A comparison of the indoor thermal performance
of the Greentainer and a real-life building, similar to architectural features of the
Greentainer, is also carried out. Both the buildings are naturally ventilated and single
storied. The embodied energy of both the buildings is evaluated. The indoor air
temperature of the buildings is recorded for 1 full day during the hottest part of the
year to evaluate the indoor thermal performance of the buildings. It is found that the
building made of primarily reused material is not inferior to a conventional building
in terms of its embodied energy as well as indoor thermal performance.
Keywords: green buildings; shipping container; reused component; natural ventilation;
embodied energy

1. Introduction: green buildings

A green building is an outcome of a design that focuses on minimising the use and on
increasing the efficiency of resources (Roaf 2003). Building industry is one of the fastest
growing industries and a major energy-consuming sector in India (Krishnakedar 2006).
The steady depletion of non-renewable resources of energy has forced the search for
energy efficient building alternatives as it is the single largest consumer of energy-intensive
materials (Chani et al. 2003). Being green could imply shifting to a renewable energy-based
reuse and recycle of building components and climate-responsive architecture (Ross n.d.).
Another concept is the reuse of components in new buildings, thereby limiting the burden
on the energy resources.

2. Container architecture
Containers are an extremely flexible method of construction; they are modular in shape,
extremely strong structurally and readily available. They are ideal for office, workspace


Email: vijayalaxmij@annauniv.edu

ISSN 1354-9839 print/ISSN 1469-6711 online

# 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13549830903575596
http://www.informaworld.com
 246 J. Vijayalaxmi

and housing (Smith 2006). To date, this alternative method of construction has successfully
created youth centres, classrooms, office space, artists’ studios, living and work space, a
nursery and retail space (Container City n.d.). Shipping containers are highly durable as
they are made of high-grade steel and are built to withstand the salt air and high winds
of an ocean voyage. The units are simple; however, they are an effective way to cut
costs and are naturally bug-resistant, do not rot and are hurricane-proof, which is essential
in a hot-humid climate. They can also be stacked up to nine units high (Griggs 2008).
Shipping containers are built to factory specifications. Therefore, they have clear and
unhidden specifications. This reduces the construction time for building crews. The stan-
dard dimension of a shipping container means that they are an excellent modular unit,
and their inherent strength, weatherproof nature and availability make them an ideal
modular structural component or as a whole standard accommodation unit.
There have been several examples of various building typologies constructed out of
shipping containers. The following are examples of a showroom, a hotel, an office building,
a residence and a school built out of refurbished containers, although many more such struc-
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tures exist in the world and not in the study area.

The “Puma City” for the Puma shoe store is made of 24 refurbished shipping containers.
It is designed to be fully dismountable and can be packed up and shipped anywhere
(Puma Shipping Container Store 2009). A hotel in Europe at Uxbridge, London is constructed
entirely from shipping containers. The design uses 86 containers of various sizes that were ret-
rofitted into bedrooms and bolted together onsite. The exterior has been clad and fitted with
windows, thus converting the assemblage into a 120-bedroom hotel. It is estimated that the
structure’s prefab composition has saved more than half a million pounds. If constructed
using traditional methods, the entire project would have taken about 15 months to 2 years
to complete (Jeffries 2008).
The first official two-storey shipping container home in the USA was designed by archi-
tect Peter DeMaria in 2006 (Urbanist 2008). The only big obstacle that he encountered
during construction of his shipping container pad was making sure that the house passed
all of the strict guidelines of the Uniform Building Code.
The office building, Riverside, in London is made of recycled containers. This office
building is constructed out of a total of 73 used storage containers. It took only 8 days to
piece together each container into a total of 22 office space units. Construction of this build-
ing was completed in 2005, and the result was a cost-effective office space with views of the
Thames River (Saber 2009).
A school located in South Melbourne, Australia for a children’s activity centre is made
of four shipping containers. When the four reused containers were joined in a staggered
manner, intimate and public spaces were created for a variety of functions including
study, painting, dancing and lounging about. Each container is oriented to produce visual
and physical connections to surrounding playground spaces. The whole container was
reused including doors suspending balconies (Nikiomahe 2008).

2.1 Carbon footprint of recycled shipping containers

A carbon footprint is the name of the measure given to the imprint that an individual leaves
on the earth. In theory, the lower a person’s carbon footprint is, the more ecologically
friendly the person is. Reusing, reducing and recycling are the three keywords that help
lower carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions (Szeben 2008). The amount of
land needed to support one’s lifestyle is called the ecological footprint. The ecological foot-
print is one way of measuring the impact a person has on the environment.
 Local Environment 247

Table 1. The ecological footprint and ecological capacity in global hectares per person.
Population (in Ecological footprint Ecological capacity Ecological deficit
Country millions) (gha/person) (gha/person) (gha/person)
India 1103.37 0.89 0.41 20.48
China 1323.35 2.11 0.86 21.25
France 60.50 4.93 3.05 21.88
Germany 82.69 4.23 1.94 22.29
Japan 128.09 9.42 5.02 24.4
USA 298.21 4.89 0.60 24.29
Singapore 4.33 4.16 0.03 24.13
Thailand 64.23 2.13 0.98 21.15
Israel 6.73 4.85 0.40 24.44
Oman 2.57 4.68 2.55 22.13
UAE 4.5 9.46 1.08 28.38
Zimbabwe 13.01 1.12 0.75 20.37
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Source: Ecological Footprint Atlas (2008).

As it is, the ecological footprint of many developed and developing countries exceeds
their ecological capacity as in the year 2005 (Table 1). These calls for an urgent need
to reduce the ecological footprint through recycle of building components. Shipping
containers offer excellent scope for this.
The amount of energy required to repurpose shipping containers is large. Melting down a
3.63Tsteel shipping container to make steel beams requires 8000 kW h of energy. The process
of recycling that entire 3.63T of steel into a shipping container home takes only 400 kW h of
electrical energy or about 5% of the energy needed to melt it (Shipping Container Homes
2009). Therefore, reusing shipping containers saves electrical energy, time and labour.
Besides, steel is not a naturally compostable material. Using shipping containers for construc-
tion provides an opportunity to reduce the negative impact on the environment. The shipping
container home construction represents a very green building material and a form of recycling
(Shipping Container Homes 2009).

3. Study question
In the study area of this paper namely Chennai, India, building using shipping containers is
a rarity. In fact, the author is unaware of any building made of shipping containers, although
they are used as storerooms on construction sites. Therefore, such buildings become
examples of sensible building reuse, which break norms of conventional building design.
However, the appropriateness of the thermal performance of the buildings made of shipping
containers needs to be studied. In developing countries such as India, mechanically venti-
lated buildings are a luxury due to economic constrains. Most of the buildings are naturally
ventilated. When designed with adequate openings for natural ventilation, the indoors can
be comfortable. This paper addresses the following:

. verify the embodied energy of a building made of shipping containers when com-
pared with a notional building of a similar size made of conventional building
materials;
. verify the thermal performance of a naturally ventilated building made of shipping
containers in comparison to a real-life building made of conventional building
materials in the study area. This is to determine whether the operational energy of
 248 J. Vijayalaxmi

the building would increase, compared with a conventional building, by virtue of

being made of a shipping container.

The primary goal of building a green home is to reduce its environmental impact in
terms of embodied and operational energy while also creating a healthy environment for
its occupants. Architects and designers try to achieve this by emphasising on ways that
minimise environmental disturbance.

4. Case study
A case study of an architect’s office, built using a shipping container, is evaluated to verify
its “sustainable” or “green” design by exploring the planning and design of the building and
the resources it consumes.
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4.1 Architects’ perspective

The architect’s first priority was that his/her office design must use the minimum amount of
energy and cost. Local building materials and those requiring minimum processing or fin-
ishing were selected. The building must also be able to grow with time. The goal was to
produce an aesthetically pleasing, low cost to own and maintain building that would be
both comfortable and health promoting.

4.2 Location and climate

The site is located in the hot-humid city of Chennai, which is at 138040 N latitude and 808170
E longitude. The Bureau of Indian Standards (1987) describes hot-humid climate as the
region where mean daily maximum dry bulb temperature is above 328C and relative humid-
ity of more than 40% prevails during the hottest month of the year and where the altitude is
not more than 500 m above the mean sea level. There is very little seasonal variation
throughout the year. The other features of this climate type are as follows: humidity
remains high for most parts of the year. It remains at 75% most of the time, but may
vary from about 55 to 100%. Sky conditions are cloudy throughout the year. Wind vel-
ocities are low. Calm periods are frequent. There are one or two dominant wind directions.
Precipitation occurs due to monsoon or due to depression over the coastal sea. In the hot-
humid climate, the simplest passive technique for improving comfort when the indoor
temperature, under still conditions, is warm is “comfort ventilation” (Givoni 1994).
Studies performed in hot-humid tropical climates confirm that increased air speed can
enhance thermal comfort even at higher temperatures (Chand 1994, de Dear and Brager
1998, Hien and Tanamas 2002). Studies by Amin and Karamchandani (1983) on the
passive cooling techniques in the hot-humid climate of Baroda, India suggest that the
only mode of achieving comfort in hot-humid conditions is through air movement. There-
fore, this Greentainer is also designed to be naturally ventilated.

4.3 Site planning

The site is handled to have minimum footprint. The “building” is oriented with its longer
axis along the north-south direction. Openings are provided on the east and the north
side only. In the tropical hot-humid climate such as Chennai, it makes sense to orient the
building in this manner to minimise heat gain from the harsh western radiation. Building
 Local Environment 249

Figure 1. Site plan of the office.

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orientation such as this also helps in capturing the prevailing east wind, considering that the
Greentainer is a naturally ventilated one, and the diffused north light. The western side is
protected with shading trees from the intense solar radiation. The site provides a green
ambience with minimum paving and maximum surface runoff area (Figure 1).

4.4 Reuse of components: core building

The design of the office is based on a shipping container of 6.1 m2.48 m2.6 m, which
forms the core of the building. The container is raised on six brick columns of 0.3 m0.3 m
size at a height of 1.0 m above the ground. The container is upgraded with a deck. A few
modifications are carried out. The metal door has been cut open and converted to a glazed
door. A part of the north wall is cut to design a glazed window, and the same cut metal piece
is used as a sliding window over the glazing (Figures 2 and 3). The cladding on the core
component is shown in Table 2.

4.5 Landscaping
The design approach has been to minimise the building footprint on the site and to maximise
the landscaping. The soil on site was initially completely sandy. So, a layer of red soil mixed
with manure was laid as top soil. A pathway using Cuddapah stone has been created. This is

Figure 2. Floor plan of the office.

 250 J. Vijayalaxmi
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Figure 3. Photograph of the Greentainer.

Table 2. Cladding on the core envelope.

Building element Cladding material
Wall (inside) Cement sheet
Wall (outside) Metal paint
Roof (inside) Plaster of Paris
Roof (outside) Truss with cement sheet
Floor (inside) Non-skid tiles

the only hard landscaping on the site. The rest of the site is landscaped as follows. The eastern
part of the site has fruit-bearing trees and a large vegetable garden, whereas the area closer to
the core building has bamboo and other shade-giving trees. The periphery of the site is lined
with large trees of Indian gooseberries, jackfruit trees, etc. The centre of the site has a large
lily pond amidst a lawn. All the vegetation is grown organically. A small deep compost pit
turns waste into wealth. The site is lush green and offers a visual treat in terms of colour,
texture and feel of the place. A standing example of a barren coastal piece of land being
converted into lush green garden using native flora is demonstrated in this case study.
From the point of view of ecological footprint, the built environment is not confined to
buildings and architecture, but holistically regards all in the environment. Viewed from an
ecological perspective, the landscaping reflects the attached energy and resource depen-
dency, representing to some extent the environmental relationships associated with building
development – one being the availability of local fruits and vegetables and composting all
organic waste from the site and therefore maximising the resource output from the site.
Although calculation of ecological footprint does not form part of this paper, the true
benefits of green construction and sustainable design are achieved through the efficiency
of the site, building envelope and building services.

5. Embodied energy: its relevance

Embodied energy is the amount of energy used to extract, manufacture, transport and erect a
building (UNCHS 1991, Design for lifestyle and the future 2009). When we throw some-
thing away, we also throw away the embodied energy used to make it. Huge amounts of
 Local Environment 251

energy are used to extract and manufacture the primary resources required for virgin
materials, from which new products are made. If a new product is reused, then much
more energy is saved because destruction of an old product and manufacturing of a new
product are avoided. This also implies a significant reduction in energy use and associated
greenhouse gas emissions (Morawski 2006).
There are two forms of embodied energy in buildings: initial embodied energy and
recurring embodied energy. The initial embodied energy in buildings represents the non-
renewable energy consumed in the acquisition of raw materials, their processing, manufac-
turing, transportation to site and construction. This energy has two components: direct
energy and indirect energy.
Direct energy is the energy used to transport building products to the site and then
to construct the building. Indirect energy is the energy used to acquire, process and
manufacture the building materials, including any transportation related to these activities.
Implicit in the measure of embodied energy are the associated environmental implications
of resource depletion, greenhouse gases, environmental degradation and reduction of
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biodiversity. As a rule of thumb, embodied energy is a reasonable indicator of the overall

environmental impact of building materials, assemblies or system (Canadian Architect n.d.).
Perhaps the single most important measure of a building’s environmental impact is its
embodied energy (Morawski 2006). Therefore, increased embodied energy indicates an
increase in GHG emissions as well, further damaging our environment. Parikh and
Gokarn (1993) put in the first effort to identify India’s emissions profile. Figure 4 gives
direct and indirect emissions of top 10 sectors of the Indian economy (Parikh et al. 2009).
From Figure 4, it can be seen that, in India, the construction sector consumes the highest
amount of energy. This is because energy-intensive materials such as steel, aluminium,
bricks, cement, glass and lime have a high embodied energy, which plays a significant
role in enhancing CO2 emissions (Parikh et al. 1997). Since low embodied energy building
materials emit less CO2, they cause less harm to the environment.
The steady depletion of non-renewable resources of energy has forced the search for
energy-efficient alternatives. This is particularly true for the building industry, as it is the
single largest consumer of energy-intensive materials.

Figure 4. CO2 emissions of various sectors for India.

 252 J. Vijayalaxmi

6. Reuse of building material and building component

An important guideline for reducing the embodied energy of buildings is to reuse building
materials and building components. Materials from the demolition of existing buildings and
construction wastes when reused result in the lowering of embodied energy of the building.
Similarly, using locally sourced materials (to reduce transportation energy), materials with a
high recycled content and ensuring an envelope design, which does not enhance the oper-
ational heating or cooling energy can go a long way in designing energy-efficient buildings
(Design for lifestyle and the future 2009).
It is estimated that reuse of building materials commonly saves about 95% of the embo-
died energy, which would otherwise be wasted as shown in Figure 5 (Tucker n.d.). When it
comes to recycling steel, it has other environmental benefits as well. For each ton of steel
recycled, 2500 pounds of iron ore, 1000 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone are
saved. The savings extend to the material and embodied energy and also in the environmental
damage of mining and transporting the material. Steel has 3.5 times the embodied energy of
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recycled steel (Steel Framing Alliance 2003). The embodied energy of recycled steel is
approximately one-fourth of the energy it takes to create steel from the virgin material
(The sustainable aspects of structural steel n.d.).
The reuse of a shipping container as a building component provides a second use for a con-
tainer and assists in reducing the embodied energy of buildings. Therefore, as a by-product,
the reuse has added energy conservation benefits (Shipping Containers Prefab þ Residential
Shipping Container Primer n.d.).

7. Methodology
The methodology of this study comprises the following steps.
(1) Evaluate and compare the embodied energy of the Greentainer and a similar sized
notional building made of conventional building material.
(2) Capture of air temperature changes during the hottest part of the year in two impor-
tant spaces of the Greentainer, namely, the centre of the deck and the centre of the
container.
(3) Capture of indoor air temperature changes during the same time period in a similar
sized room made of conventional building materials used in the study area.
(4) Evaluate and compare the thermal performance of the Greentainer and a similar
sized room made of conventional building material.
The indoor air temperature of the container is measured using a thermo-anemometer
(Figure 6), which continuously records the changes in air temperature for 1 full day. The

Figure 5. The embodied energy savings of three recyclable materials.

Source: Tucker 2000. # Copyright CSIRO Australia, 7 March 2000.
 Local Environment 253
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Figure 6. The thermo-anemometer used for data capture.

instrument is placed at the centre of the deck and the centre of the container at a height of
1.2 m above the floor level. The indoor air temperature of a similar room made of conven-
tional building materials is also simultaneously captured (Figure 7).
The embodied energy of the Greentainer and that of a notional building of the same size
of conventional building material is calculated and compared. In order to verify whether the

Figure 7. Location of thermo-anemometer for data capture.

 254 J. Vijayalaxmi

Greentainer would give the same indoor comfort levels as a conventional building material,
the indoor thermal performance of both is verified.
A holistic approach to sustainable buildings is to have lowered embodied and oper-
ational energy. A building low on initial embodied energy but high on operational
energy would eventually become unsustainable.

8. Predicted embodied energy

An analysis of the embodied energy of the building has been carried out to understand the
environmental impact of building materials. In this case, the core building is made of reused
component, which is a shipping container. The embodied energy reduction is about 90–
95% (Jeffries 2008). Based on this, the embodied energy calculation of the existing building
is carried out. The source of embodied energy data of building materials is the UNCHS
handbook (UNCHS 1991). The embodied energy of the Greentainer is found to be as
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Figure 8. Embodied energy of the building components of the Greentainer.

Table 3. Embodied energy data of components of the Greentainer.

Components of Embodied energy of
Sl. no. the Greentainer Quantity Embodied energy/unit component in MJ
1 Core container 2200 kg 3.5 MJ/kg (as against 7700
35 MJ)
2 Internal wall cladding 44 m2 33 MJ/m2 1452
(particle board)
3 Internal floor tiles 250 kg 2.5 MJ/kg 625
4 Internal false ceiling (plaster 15 m2 20 GJ/m2 300
of Paris)
5 Roof frame (per kg) 40 kg 24 MJ/kg 960
6 Deck frame 80 kg 24 MJ/kg 1920
7 Outer roof cladding 33 m2 102 MJ/m2 3366
8 Deck floor cladding 17 kg 24.2 MJ/kg 411.4
10 Glass for door and window 12.8 m2 395 MJ/m2 5056
11 Paint 476 m2 7.4 MJ/m2 3522.4
Total embodied energy of the Greentainer 25312.8 MJ
 Local Environment 255
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Figure 9. Photograph of a conventional house.

shown in Figure 8. Table 3 gives the calculations of the embodied energy for the
Greentainer.
Embodied energy calculation is carried out for a similar building made of conven-
tional building materials. The conventional building material used in the study area is
0.23 m brick wall with cement mortar on both sides. The roofing is made of 0.12 m
thick reinforced cement concrete with weathering course on top (Census of India
2001, Krishnakedar 2006, Vijayalaxmi 2008). The photograph of the same is shown
in Figure 9. The opening size of the naturally ventilated Greentainer and the convention-
al building material is 40% of the floor area, and the orientation of the opening is the
eastern side.
The percentages of embodied energy of a similar sized notional conventional building
are found to be as shown in Figure 10. Table 4 gives the calculations of the embodied
energy for the conventional house.
The embodied energy of the conventional building is about 35,000 MJ more than
the sustainable Greentainer. There is a saving of 59.4% in the total embodied energy
due to the reuse of the envelope building material, to which very little cladding has
been done.

9. Thermal performance of the Greentainer

Under specific design conditions of a building, the index to evaluate thermal performance
can be divided into three categories: direct, rational and empirical. Direct indices are
based on measurements of a simple instrument that responds to climatic variables. An
example is a globe thermometer that responds to changes in air temperature, air velocity
 256 J. Vijayalaxmi
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Figure 10. Embodied energy of a similar conventional building.

Table 4. Embodied energy data of components of a similar sized notional conventional building.
Embodied Embodied energy of
Sl. no. Building component Quantity energy/unit component in MJ
1 Bricks 4500 nos 4.25 MJ/unit 19125
2 Cement mortar 10.604 m3 1405 MJ/m3 14898.62
3 RCC roofing 3.3 m3 3950 MJ/m3 13035
3
4 Weathering course 66 m 0.81 MJ/m3 53.46
2
5 Glass for door and window 12.8 m 395 MJ/m2 5056
6 Floor tiles 512 kg 2.5 MJ/kg 1280
7 Internal false ceiling (plaster of Paris) 33 m2 20 GJ/m2 660
8 Paint 476 m2 7.4 MJ/m2 3522.4
Total embodied energy of the notional conventional house 57630.48 MJ

and radiant temperature. Rational indices are based on models of human responses to the
thermal environment, taking into consideration thermoregulation and heat exchange
between the body and the environments. An example of a rational index is the “operative
temperature”, which combines the heat exchange between the body and the environment
by radiation and convection. Empirical indices are developed by subjecting a large
population sample of known activity and clothing, which are in thermal equilibrium
with the environment, to a range of environmental conditions and recording their
thermal sensation (Awbi 1995).
This study adopts an experimental method using the direct index method, whereby
parameters that can be measured as a function of thermal performance are collected for analy-
sis. The thermal performance of the Greentainer is carried out by evaluating the indoor air
temperature. The indoor air temperature of the container is measured on 5th April 2009,
which lies in the summer period. The indoor air temperature of a similar building made of
conventional building materials located in the study area is also captured simultaneously,
as shown in Figure 11. The results show that there is a time lag of about 2 h between the
maximum temperature in a conventional building and the container (Figure 11).
The average indoor temperature of the Greentainer is about 0.38C less than the conven-
tional building (Figure 12). Although the difference may not be significant and perceptible,
 Local Environment 257
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Figure 11. Comparison of indoor air temperature.

Figure 12. Comparison of indoor average temperature.

it suggests that the thermal performance of the naturally ventilated Greentainer is no way
inferior to that of the conventional building of its size.

10. Discussions
Being environmentally friendly is not just about energy saving, but also about the better use
of suitable materials. We have to use materials far more efficiently than we do now. Sustain-
ability also means an increased importance being placed on use of materials, which are
renewable, recycled and non-toxic. This study does not directly promote the use of shipping
container as a building component, but tries to argue that resource reuse and management
will go a long way in the efficient management of energy. Architects have to be creative in
reusing materials for building components without compromising on safety and security of
the inhabitants. Public awareness must be generated that such buildings, which incidentally
are low cost, are not inferior to conventional concrete buildings.
Steel, per se, has very high embodied energy and therefore not ecological, but here the
architect has reused what could have become underused or what could have been a salvaged
component. Hence, in this context, the use of steel can be considered as an ecologically sen-
sitive decision. Such buildings using reused building material for entire building component
such as building envelope are not common in the study area, and therefore, buildings such
as these could be inspiring to many.
 258 J. Vijayalaxmi

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