Designing an Environmentally Sustainable Shipping Container in Kuwait
Introduction
Constructing a structure that is to be used for a specific purpose can be considered as a major process, and therefore it needs careful planning and design; otherwise, it will not be to carry out the functions for which it was made for in the first place. Hence, the design phase is one of the most crucial stages of the entire construction process. When designing a structure or structure, there are certain factors that should be taken into consideration such as the budget, the location, the purpose, and its effects on its immediate environment. The interaction of these factors will ultimately influence the structure’s design.
One of the factors in designing a structure is environmental sustainability. Environmentally sustainable design process is defined by the EPA as the practice and implementation of models of construction which are environmentally friendly and consumes fewer resources in terms of construction, renovation, maintenance, as well as demolition. In other words, it takes into account the environment in which the structure is placed on and utilizes natural resources whenever possible. In addition, it is also environmentally-friendly—the structural design does not harm or adversely affect the environment in a major manner, whatsoever. It can be said that structure an environmentally sustainable infrastructure is a balance of environment conservation as well as efficient architecture.
Because of their benefits, environmentally sustainable infrastructures – also known as green structures – are preferred especially in places with extreme environmental conditions like Kuwait. A green structure, in the aforementioned country, would take into account the hot environment. A green structure, such as a shipping container, would therefore utilize the information about the country’s hot environment in a manner that will be conducive for a shipping company and the environment. It is also important to take into consideration some points that are specific to Kuwait, such as the country having one of the highest energy intensities in Arab region, having a higher than average greenhouse gas emission, and a limited capacity to adapt to climate change because it is an a low-lying area (Ram, 2012). Features of such shipping containers are as follows.
Research Purpose
This research paper aims to develop the shipping containers in Kuwait so that they can adapt to the hot and humid atmospheric environment of the country. In order to do this, general features of a green structure will be studied and then applied to the construction of shipping containers. This paper also aims to give a general design on how a green shipping container can be built in a hot environment, which could be applied to Kuwait and other countries having the same atmospheric conditions. Finally, it aims to contribute towards the country’s movement and goal towards establishing environmentally sustainable infrastructures, which in the long run would prove to be beneficial for the environment in general.
Objectives
The study has the objectives of:
Review of Related Literature
Many articles have been written that concern green structure design and implementation. Some of these articles will be discussed and reviewed below.
A research paper about green structure in general was made by Retzlaff in 2009. The purpose of the paper was to give an introduction about the concept of green structure and other topics pertinent to the issue. Retzlaff identified six themes that are to be considered in green structures, namely: scope, weighting, subjectivity, rigor, adaptation, and life cycle analysis. Lastly, it was acknowledged that there is a need for further study regarding green structures. Retzlaff’s study can be used in giving a deeper insight about the concept of green structure, which can prove useful in fulfilling the objectives of this study.
Iwaro and Mwasha (2010) examined the implications of having green energy standards for sustainable energy efficient design in structures such as shipping containers. The paper starts off with a discussion about how green structure design is a very important and critical issue at the present times due to ever increasing costs of energy, and outlines how developed countries have set up standards that would aim to comply with the regulations so as to follow a green design. However, it was also noted that developing countries still have a long way to go when it comes to green structure design and implementation; energy efficient construction in these countries is poorly implemented, if at all. Because of this, it was noted that there still exists a gap between efficient green housing and structure systems in developing countries which needs to be addressed.
In order to identify the aforementioned need for better structure systems, the implementation status in the structure standards of developing countries was investigated. Moreover, their implications when it comes to environmentally sustainable structure were assessed. Sixty countries were involved in this research, and data were gathered using online surveys. One of the countries involved in the survey was Kuwait, which has mandatory standards in structure energy as of the date of the survey (2010).
Based from the results, it was found out that many of the developing countries surveyed have no standards when it comes to structure energy designs (42%), while others have mixed or proposed ones. There is a substantial number with mandatory structure standards, although it can be said that this is relatively new. Furthermore, the results revealed that efficient structure standards can lead to reduced cost in resources, which in turn can pave the way for environmentally sustainable structure designs. For one, having a set of standards would mean that the structures have to meet the minimum requirements that are compulsory for conserving resources and the like. In addition, the requirements are there because they have been proven to be efficient, and therefore implementing them would mean replicating their efficiency as well.
This study can be of help in designing an environmentally sustainable structure in Kuwait. Aside from giving an insight about the practices regarding structure design in the country, it also gives an overview about how structure energy efficient infrastructures could also apply in green structure. Therefore, practices regarding structure energy designs can also be incorporated and used when constructing structures that are environmentally sustainable.
Another study regarding green structure was made by Sharrah, Alatiqi, Elkamel and Alper in 2001. In this study, they planned a petrochemical industry from an environmental perspective. In order to achieve this, they constructed a mixed-integer linear programming model where products are made out of a specified set of chemicals. In constructing the aforementioned model, they took into consideration the optimal standards needed to achieve an environmentally sustainable output such as wise allocation of resources, minimization of pollution, and the like. They also factored economical aspects such as maximization of profits. Afterwards, the model produced is proposed to be used for the case study regarding petrochemical industries in Kuwait.
While this study focuses more on the petrochemical industry and less on shipping ones which is the objective of the research, it can give insight on how environmental conditions in hot environments such as the ones in the Middle East should be factored in when constructing environmentally sustainable structures. Like in the study, the designing of a shipping container should consists of a balance between environmental conditions and profit allocations. Additionally, a similar method can be used in designing green structures for Kuwait.
Lastly, a study which focuses on the resource consumption of households in Saudi Arabia was conducted by Taleb and Sharples in 2010. Using simulation software packages, data about the consumption of water and electricity in Saudi Arabia were studied and analyzed. Based on such an analysis, design recommendations are proposed that can help architects design an environmentally sustainable structure in that location.
Since Saudi Arabia and Kuwait both belong to the Middle East, they have more or less the same climate and thus it can be said that in general, the conditions that apply to the household in Saudi Arabia can also hold true in Kuwait. With that said, the recommendations provided by this study can also be utilized and applied when designing green structures in Kuwait as well.
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References
Al-Sharrah, G. K., Alatiqi, I., Elkamel, A., &Alper, E. 2001. ‘Planning an Integrated Petrochemical Industry with an Environmental Objective’. Industry and Engineering Chemistry Research vol. 40 no.9 pp. 2103 -2111 <http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie0007466>
EPA. Green structure [Online]. Available at https://archive.epa.gov/greenstructure/web/html/ [Accessed 1 Sept 2016].
Iwaro, J., Mwasha, A. 2010. ‘Implications of structure energy standard for sustainable energy efficient design in structures’, International Journal of Energy and Environment vol. 1 no. 5 pp. 745 – 756 <http://www.ijee.ieefoundation.org/vol1/issue5/IJEE_01_v1n5.pdf>
Ram, S. 2012. Realizing performing green structures in Kuwait [Online]. Available at http://www.paaet.edu.kw/mysite/Portals/88/Files/Ram_Kuwait_GBF_web.pdf [Accessed 1 Sept 2016].
Retzlaff 2009, ‘Green Structures and Structure Assessment Systems’, Journal of Planning Literature vol. 24 no.1, pp. 3 -21 < 10.1177/0885412209349589>
Taleb, H. M., &Sharples, S. 2010. ‘Developing sustainable residential structures in Saudi Arabia: A case study, Applied Energy vol, 88 no. 1 pp. 383 – 391 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.07.029>
