One-year performance assessment of a passive house container-based prototype

Bibliographic Details

• Authors: Adeline Rezeau, Beatriz Rodriguez-Soria, Miguel Angel Garcia-Garcia
• Journal: Energy and Buildings, Vol. 360, Article 117391
• Year: 2026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2026.117391
• Affiliation: University of Zaragoza
• Project: EU LIFE Zero Energy Mod

Methodology

• One full year of monitored performance data from a passive house container-based prototype
• Located at a military base in Zaragoza, Spain (semi-arid continental climate)
• 20-foot shipping container retrofitted to PASSIVHAUS standard
• Monitored indoor temperature, CO2 levels, humidity, and energy consumption
• Prototype was later dismantled and relocated to the Gabriel de Castilla Antarctic research station
• Comparison baseline: conventional containerized units previously monitored by the same research team

Key Performance Data

• Annual heating and cooling energy: 33.9 kWh/m2/yr
• Reduction vs conventional containers: 87%
• Conventional container baseline: approximately 280 kWh/m2/yr (cited in paper)
• Winter performance: Stable indoor temperatures maintained; adequate ventilation confirmed by CO2 monitoring
• Summer performance: Significant overheating occurred during two heatwave events; cooling is the identified weak point

Relevance to Zomeworks Container Prototype

This study is the closest peer-reviewed analogue to the Zomeworks Double Play container. Key parallels:

• Both use 20ft shipping containers as the structural base
• Both target passive heating and cooling without conventional HVAC
• The Rezeau prototype uses Passivhaus insulation standards; the Zomeworks prototype uses Double Play radiant/mass strategies

Key differences:

• Rezeau uses European Passivhaus methodology (superinsulation + mechanical ventilation with heat recovery)
• Zomeworks uses passive radiative cooling and thermal mass strategies native to Baer’s design tradition
• The 87% reduction figure provides a benchmark for what passive container retrofits can achieve, but the mechanisms differ

Implications for Mass Production

• Container form factor enables factory assembly and transport to site
• The LIFE Zero Energy Mod project frames the work as demonstrating relocatable, modular passive buildings
• No cost data reported in the paper
• Summer overheating remains the primary unsolved problem, which is directly relevant to the Double Play cooling cycle