Energy Use and Indoor Environment Performance in Sustainably Designed Refugee Shelters: Three Incremental Phases

Rojhat Ibrahim (), Bálint Baranyai, Haval Abdulkareem () and Tamás János Katona
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Rojhat Ibrahim: Marcel Breuer Doctoral School, University of Pécs, Boszorkány u. 2, 7624 Pecs, Hungary
Bálint Baranyai: Energy Design Research Group, Institute of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pecs, Hungary
Haval Abdulkareem: Department of Architectural Engineering, University of Duhok, Duhok 42001, Iraq
Tamás János Katona: Marcel Breuer Doctoral School, University of Pécs, Boszorkány u. 2, 7624 Pecs, Hungary

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: Globally, natural and man-made disasters continue to force the displacement of masses of people. Existing studies show that several aspects have not been integrated into constructing refugee camps and shelters to achieve sustainability, such as long lifespan, indoor thermal comfort and air quality, energy efficiency, socio-cultural aspects, integration with local planning and design systems, and environmental impact. This study integrates the above factors in six refugee core shelters, designed based on the Middle Eastern cultural context using locally available sustainable construction materials and techniques. The prototypes are situated on two different building plots, i.e., terraced and end-of-terrace, and undergo three development phases, known as the incremental improvement strategy. The study focuses on their energy and indoor environment performance and provides empirical assessments undertaken using dynamic building simulations. It shows that the adopted approach to design and construction leads to remarkable improvements in their overall performance. Concerning energy use, compared to the base case scenarios built with conventional materials, the proposed prototypes show an opportunity to save energy up to 10,000 kWh per unit per year, equivalent to almost 2500 USD savings in energy bills. This is while achieving accepted level for almost 89–94% of thermal comfort hours and 74–85% predicted mean vote (PMV), respectively. However, the CO 2 concentration level remains relatively low, ranging from 29 to 51%.

Keywords: upgrading strategies; post-disaster shelters; sustainable prototypes; low-impact constructions; energy efficiency; thermal comfort (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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