Ship Me Off to a New Home

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 With the ongoing and steady rise in residential property prices in Singapore, I am starting to lose hope in getting my ideal home. HDB resale prices are predicted to increase by about 8 per cent in 2022, although this increase is said to be 'gentler' than other years (Goh, 2022). This led me to fantasise about my own future home by watching Tiny House Nation, a reality show where 2 builders design and construct a tiny house (around 20 - 55 square meters), usually mobile and made out of shipping containers. Throughout the show, the designers make mention of the sustainable concept of small homes and how carbon and energy-efficient they are, which is what attracts the homeowners. Recently, this concept was brought to a few locations in Singapore, such as the SG Hotel On Wheels (SHOW) in Pasir Ris and the Shipping Container Hotel (SCH) at OneNorth. These shipping container hotels seem to be changing the hotel industry in Singapore due to their unique concept and sustainability factor. On top of being made of recycled containers, SCH utilises solar panels, energy-saving smart technologies and water monitoring systems in an effort to be carbon-neutral (JTC, 2020). In other countries, these tiny homes seem to be gaining more popularity as well. But how sustainable are they really in this climate of global warming? 

Inside of a 40-foot shipping container hotel room.
Source: Sg Hotel on Wheels 

A paper by Hamidul et al. (2016) looks at the sustainability assessment of container homes in Australia in terms of their Life Cycle Environmental Impacts (LCEI), which analyses 6 category indicators: cumulative energy demand (CED), water use, solid waste, global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential, and eutrophication potential (assessing phosphate and nitrate compounds). In terms of materials used for building mobile homes, the usage of leftover shipping containers greatly reduces waste, greenhouse gas emissions and the need for new materials, hence being environmentally friendly in that regard. The authors assessed a container home with a 60 years design life and separated its impacts according to the construction, operation, maintenance and disposal phases. According to their results, CED, GWP, acidification potential and eutrophication potential were the greatest during the operation of the home. Water use was the highest in its construction phase, while solid waste dominated its disposal phase. Most of the CED and GWP was as a result of heating and cooling systems which contributed to CO2 emission. They thus concluded that the sustainability of the container houses is currently inconclusive as construction-wise, it is definitely more eco-friendly and convenient. However, their life cycle environmental impacts during the operational phase seem to show that they can be just as environmentally damaging as other homes. Perhaps future technologies will make the homes greener and more sustainable in the long run. In any case, it is unlikely for me to have a permanent container home in Singapore due to the limited land space. 
References: 

Goh, C. (2022, February 11). Analysts expect gentler HDB resale price rises in 2022 as record number of flats reach minimum occupation period. TODAY. https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/analysts-expect-gentler-hdb-resale-price-rises-2022-record-number-flats-reach-minimum-occupation-period-1814221

Hamidul, I., Zhang, G., Setunge, S., & Bhuiyan, M. A. (2016). Life cycle assessment of shipping container home: A sustainable construction. Energy and Buildings, 128, 673–685. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.07.002

JTC (2020, September 24). From trash to treasure: Old shipping containers breathe new life into one-north. JTC. https://www.jtc.gov.sg/about-jtc/news-and-stories/feature-stories/from-trash-to-treasure-old-shipping-containers-breathe-new-life-into-one-north 

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