The Circular Home: Development and Demonstration of a Net Negative Carbon, Reusable Residence

Technical Report · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2506994· OSTI ID:2506994

Phillips, Adam ^[1]; Antonopoulos, Chrissi ^[1]; Griechen, Darrin ^[1]

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1. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)

This project started the development of an innovative modular building system intended for residential construction. The project was centered around single-family homes that were carbon-negative cradle-to-grave over a 100 year time frame, which is approximately double the current standard for operational life. The project sought to accomplish this objective by designing the modular home in a manner that ensures circularity, where the main house components can be used over several consecutive 50-year lifespans. To accomplish these objectives, this project utilized integrated design with the inclusion of life-cycle assessment to design the single-family house for architectural, structural, energy, mechanical, thermal, and moisture demands, while ensuring carbon negativity and annual net-zero energy use. The core technology of this project was the use of cross-laminated timber and biogenic materials, such as wood-fiber insulation, in the construction of the modular building units. The robustness and factory manufacturing ability of cross-laminated timber allow for factory construction of most of the home, which minimizes on-site time, saving money and reducing construction waste. During this project, initial milestones were met that delivered the architectural plans for the circular home and an initial structural testing matrix. Compared to current code-built homes, which average 13 kg CO2eq. / ft2 and are demolished at their end of life, the circular home has an estimated -30 kg CO2eq. / ft2 of embodied carbon emissions during its first build iteration. It is estimated that approximately 60%-70% of the total building mass could be reused and/or recycled during subsequent rebuilds. This project was concluded at approximately the 1/3 point and a separate project was established to conclude the remaining milestones. This project promises to benefit the public by delivering another option for single-family, and eventually multi-family, housing using a novel building construction system. The system of reusable modular construction facilitates not only lower emissions during the first building iteration, but also lower emissions during subsequent iterations that drastically reduce waste and help society meet its climate goals. Many other industries, such as clothing and technology sectors, are starting to focus on circularity and this project adds the residential building construction industry to that list.

• Research Organization: Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• DOE Contract Number: AR0001633
• OSTI ID: 2506994
• Report Number(s): DOE-WSU--01633-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING