Effect of Different Climates On a Shipping Container Passive House in Canada

Passive House buildings with an annual energy demand of less than 15 kWh/m²a (i.e. kWh/m² per annum) can help Canada and other countries achieve thermal comfort with minimum energy use and carbon footprint through meticulous design and selection of highly efficient building envelope elements and appliances. Shipping container based passive houses can reduce the cost of passive house construction and also promote recycling. In this paper, a passive house built using shipping containers, originally designed for Victoria, BC, Canada, is analyzed using Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) software in different climactic zones of Canada. The locations under consideration are: Halifax (Cool–Temperate), Toronto (Cold–Temperate), Edmonton (Cold), and Yellowknife (Arctic–Climate). This paper critically examines the energy demand changes in various climate zones and make necessary modifications to the design to achieve passive house energy performance requirements in selected climates. Results show that with modified designs shipping container passive houses can meet passive house requirements, except in the Arctic–Climate of Yellowknife.