At any port you can probably see hundreds to thousands of empty shipping containers just sitting around waiting to be loaded. In recent times these containers have not only transported goods across oceans but have also been transformed into energy efficient dwellings with some great design and ingenuity.

In the past decade many habitable container projects have been completed around the world. At fabprefab there is a selection of these projects for shipping container enthusiasts. The picture used here on this article comes from a funky development called Container City I in at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London, England. The Container City site explains that shipping containers can be linked together to create strong steel modules that can be used to create many different types of accomodations. This type of construction takes very little time to build and the cost is low because 80% of the materials used is recycled. The shipping containers can be painted with insulating paint and use energy efficient appliances. Additional earth-friendly features could include water harvesting, solar panels, and green roofs.

In America at least two shipping container complexes recently made the news. One is called the City Center Lofts in Salt Lake City, Utah. The plan is to erect a seven floor residential building that includes an art gallery. Another project is slated in Detroit and the plan is to create a 17 unit condominium project at a cost of 1.8 million dollars. The condos will range from 960 square feet to 1920 square feet and will be priced at $100000 to $190000 each. That might be a little expensive for Detroit since homes were selling for less than cars there .

I think it is awesome that people are creating new homes from recycled industrial products. However, another recent news report states that the United States is having a shortage of shipping containers since the weak dollar is pushing up the demand of exports from the United States. Perhaps the next commodity bubble is in shipping containers?