“Methodology Comparative Analysis” in the Solar Decathlon Competition: A Proposed Housing Model based on a Prefabricated Structural System

Abstract

The construction sector, by direct or indirect actions, consumes more than 40% of the global energy produced and is responsible for 30% of CO2 emissions. It is a need of the construction industry to transform its practices and processes by proposing systems of lower demand to the environment. In this sense, closed prefabrication and industrialization as a constructive process could be the key to seek savings and efficiency from its origin to the end of life of buildings. In this context, this article presents a methodological proposal of quantitative, qualitative and comparative analysis of the structural systems of eight prototypes presented in the “Solar Decathlon” contest in its North-American and Latin-American editions (both of them in 2015) and the European edition (in 2014). This methodology deduces the characteristics of a structural system of lower environmental demand and the characteristics of these constructive processes, in favor of a new paradigm of sustainability and to be applied in innovative systems of new housing models.