Thanks to some ingenious and smart thinking individuals the list of home farming possibilities are growing with roof top farming, hydroponics, aquaponics and vertical gardening, all of which could compliment a container home, becoming more viable and affordable. In this post I would like to take a look at the benefits of rooftop farming

Rooftop Farming

Roof top farming is the future of urban agriculture. However, it isn’t a new concept. Rooftop gardens have been around for years. However, the focus of these gardens hasn’t been for the production of food until fairly recently. Today, this new form of farming is catching on with rooftop farms found in cities all around the world. You may have not seen one in your city yet, but it won’t be long before you do.

The benefits of roof toping farming are many – ranging from aesthetic, recreational, educational, ecological to architectural. Probably, the greatest benefit of roof top farming is local food production. When you consider the incredible expense of moving produce and foods from farms to cities, and even to different countries, the potential benefits of rooftop farming is mindboggling. Think of the environmental benefits and the amount of money saved if every city were able to develop a small-scale local agriculture. The energy and expense saved on transport alone would have massive benefits to our environment.

The Challenge of Rooftop Farming

While rooftop farming is gaining momentum there are challenges. The biggest problem of rooftop farming is one of weight. Most city buildings or apartments were not built with having a garden grace their rooftops in mind. In fact, 20 or 30 years ago the concept would have sounded crazy. Why would you have a garden on the top of a building roof in the city?

Fortunately, the problem is being overcome with the concept of lightweight rooftop farms. A Hawaii Corporation, FarmRoof, have established the world’s first and only certified organic green roof system. FarmRoof builds ultra-lightweight, self-contained sustainable rooftop farms, that churn out fresh organic super foods. The roof top farms are modular, scalable and transferrable meaning the concept could go global.

Rooftop farms in Hawaii provide chefs and retailers with fresh vegetables, and locals can purchase produce subscriptions. the rooftop farms also insulate and cool building, cutting costs on electricity. Watch the video below to discover how rooftop farms are putting fresh organic food on the table.

There are a number of products that can teach you how to build and install solar panels on your container home, or any home for that matter. One product that I found particularly helpful was the Green DIY Energy Guide.

A site called GreenDIYenergy.com is educating home builders and people with little or no DIY experience the secrets of building their own solar energy for less than $200. So if you are looking for a step-by-step guide that will show you the ins and outs of building your own solar panel system, then GreenDIYenergy.com is a site you should visit.

Solar panels are indeed a worthwhile investment, but having them installed will break most people’s budget – anything from $10,000 to $35,000. That is quite an investment. It would take many years to see a return on investment for that kind of money. However, you don’t have to go the retail route with solar panels. You can build your own.

Now, you might be thinking that building your own solar panels would be impossible, but the reality is almost anyone can do this if you have some basic handyman skills. In fact, thousands of people make their own solar panels every year, and you can too.

There is an easy to follow step-by-step guide that walks you through every process of harnessing solar energy. If you love DIY, and want to power your container home then this DIY Solar Panel guide can help you create your own solar power.

For less then $200 you can discover the step-by-step process of constructing 60- to 120- watt Solar Panels. The guide comes with illustrations making it an easy process even for people who don’t know a thing about DIY.  Step-by-step pictures, diagrams and schematics show you everything from finding the cheapest materials to installing solar panels. Even the most difficult solar panel construction methods, are put into simple and easy steps that anyone can follow.

The Green DIY Energy Guide comes in three parts:

• Solar Panel Systems
• The $98 Solar Panel Guide
• DIY Guide: Installing and Mounting Solar Panels Guide, Electrical Wiring Plans for Solar Panels, DIY Home Energy Audit

There is also a Library of “Step-By-Step Videos” showing you the exact process in building your first solar panel so you can see real solar panels being created.

So if you are looking at ways to power your container home DIY solar power may be your best option.

Grab The DIY Solar Power Guide And Power You Solar Home For Free

Innovation Creates Solutions to Problems

Around the world, countless shipping containers that have exceeded their lifespan sit idle on loading and shipping docks, warehouse lots, and abandoned industrial sites, destined to decay over many decades. These cargo boxes can be rescued, salvaged, and restored to give them a meaningful existence and a new purpose in life. Innovative architects, building contractors, and engineers are responding to the masses to develop and deliver environmentally-friendly housing units.

The use of reclaimed and recycled materials translates to reduced environmental impacts on the planet. By salvaging and restoring the abandoned containers, sites can be cleared of useless clutter. It takes much less time, energy, and effort to transform a cargo box into a container house than it would to reduce it to scrap metal and melt it down for another purpose.

The bulk of the costs and environmental impacts in the scrap reduction process are the fuel costs to melt the metal for reuse. The scrap reduction process contributes to additional and unnecessary air pollution emissions.

Green construction, engineering, and manufacturing are being used for nearly every new process and industry. Housing manufacturers are embracing the concepts and ideas to respond the public demands, ever-changing environmental regulations, and lifestyle choices.

Adopting an Environmentally Responsible Lifestyle

Many people are becoming environmentally responsible global citizens by recycling plastic, glass, metal, and paper at home and in the workplace.

Some people have taken a much greater leap to the front of the movement and are purchasing homes with reduced environmental impacts and small carbon footprints. The use of recycled shipping containers translates into fewer trees are required in the housing construction industry. Fewer trees used in construction means less forest depletion. More forests means there are more trees for greater absorption and removal of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Ultimately, we all breathe cleaner air.

An environmental-friendly lifestyle can have global impacts and have positive effects on someone in a remote location on the other side of the planet. Cargo container homes generally cost less than conventional construction homes, which means that homeownership can be affordable for many more people. The container housing industry is still in its infancy and has the potential to be an environmentally- friendly lifestyle phenomenon.

As with any creative and innovative architectural designs, they are either shunned or embraced. Most people prefer to live in traditional homes. Shipping container homes attract a new and pioneering breed of homesteaders looking to get off the grid or creating a conversation piece and work of art in their community.

Contemporary and modern home designs and construction materials illustrate the creative and unbounded human abilities to transform available components into a comfortable dwelling. For millennia, humans have used available materials to create settlements all over the world. Some ancient homes were constructed of mud bricks or carved in the mountain sides. The ingenious nature of humans allowed for people to live almost anywhere on the planet.

Humans continue to seek ways to adapt to live in their surroundings with affordable, attractive, available, comfortable, and durable materials. Shipping container houses meet all these criteria and more.

Container housing is gaining popularity as an alternative living space due to their environmentally-friendly attributes and benefits such as:

• Constructed of recycled materials

• Reduced construction waste

• Reduced carbon footprint

• Minimal ground disruption and environmental impacts to installation site

• Only a foundation slab needs to be formed

• Reduced digging and site alterations to install the units

The containers offer unlimited design versatility. They can be assembled, connected, and stacked in countless configurations. The only limitations are budget and lot size.

Residents can choose the minimalist option and call a single container home. Most shipping container home dwellers choose the multi-unit option, which allows for separate room functions for living and utilitarian purposes.

The container homes can be installed on many types of terrain on a level, secure, and stable surface. Some dwellers choose the option of electric generators to energize their homes. By not tying into the main power and utility grid, they have the added benefit of a mobile home, which can be transported to other sites as desired.

Most shipping container homes are planned as very long-term or permanent fixtures in the community. Whatever option you and your family choose, living in a shipping container home is a truly unique experience that offers all the amenities, appointments, and conveniences of modern living. Think of it this way, when you are inside the unit, you are living in a home. It is only a shipping container on the outside. Besides, after all, any home is just a box on the outside. It is what is inside that truly matters.

Click Here To Get The HoJo Motor Plans

What is the HoJo Motor?

The Ho Jo Motor is a device that produces completely free energy for people’s homes and appliances while at the same time eliminating people’s electricity bills! You can have the plans to create your own free energy device based on Howard Johnson’s patented magnetic generator.

Power Your Container Home With The HoJo Motor

Your container home can be powered by this magnetic generator. The HoJo Motor is already producing totally free energy for thousands of people’s homes. The plans are actually really easy to follow and the cost to make the motor is mininmal

Who is Howard Johnson?

Howard Johnson is the inventor of the HoJo Motor. He is known as “The Father of Spintronics” and was one of the greatest inventors of the past century. He dedicated much of his life to learn how to produce free energy. What resulted was a magnetic generator that could be used in people’s homes to eliminate their need to pay for electricity. The “HoJo Motor” was actually awarded 3 U.S. patents! In fact, it’s the only known device to be certified by the “U.S. Patent Office” to actually produce free energy.

Build Your Own Ho Jo Motor

Today, you and anyone else can build their own “HoJo Motor” and produce free energy for their home or container home because the plans to build this device have been released! And if you’re like me and don’t have any building or engineering experience it doesn’t matter! The plans are easy to follow and are step-by-step! …So literally anyone can build this device and power their container home for free.

>>>>Power Your Container Home Free with The HoJo Motor<<<<

Thousands of cargo containers are abandoned each year as shipping companies find it more cost effective to purchase new containers than to haul empty ones back across the ocean. Because of the durability of these containers, which are built to withstand severe weather and being loaded and unloaded by crane from ships, they make ideal prefabricated shells for housing and other construction needs.

Like any type of building, there are a few tricks and secrets that can make building a home, cabin or office from cargo containers easier. Here are a few common container housing tips.

- Painting. To properly paint a shipping container, you’ll need to wash it down with a high-powered spray brush. Not only does this help eliminate mold and prep the container for painting, it also helps you discover any rust spots you may need to deal with. Once the container is ready, using a spray painter is the best option for painting the shipping container.

- Cutting windows. If you want to cut a space for a window in a shipping container, you need to make sure that the area is re-supported if it’s a large hole and you intend to stack another container on top or build a roof deck. In general, the weight of the cut out should be matched by the weight of additional support beams or poles.

- Getting wired. When designing your container home, it’s important to plan where you intend to place electrical outlets and switches. Prior to wiring your container home, you should be through with the frame out of the interior. When locating the fuse box, the kitchen is usually a good location for the fuse box, so long as you keep it away from the sink.

- The frame out. If you’re building a container home, chances are that you’ll want a frame out so you can put up a wall board. This allows you to insulate your container home and also run wiring out of sight.

- Insulation. Insulation can help keep your container home comfortable during hot and cold weather. To insulate, get your frame out up and then paste rolls of insulation to the wall of the container within the frame out. After you’re done insulating and doing all plumbing and wiring work, you can close up the frame out with a wall board.

Part of the fun and adventure of cargo container housing is figuring out how to best use the containers and other building supplies to create an attractive and functional living space. Cargo container homes owners take a great deal of pride in their ingenuity, and the fact that they are practicing sustainable living habits by making use of materials that would otherwise be wasted.

An Industrial Object that One Can Call Home

Oftentimes, after large industrial equipment, objects, and structures reach the end of their purpose in life, they corrode, languish, and rust, creating an eyesore in the environment. It is usually easier and cheaper for the industries to abandon these artifacts and let them remain in a state of decay, rather than dismantling and recycling the materials.

Some ingenious architects, contractors, and engineers are repurposing and transforming cargo and freight boxes, technically called “*inter-modal steel building units*” (*ISBU*s) in artfully designed and unique shipping container houses.

Some environmental, functional, and structural benefits of shipping container houses:

• Completely modular home units (single or multiple units can be used)

• Durable material (steel)

• Environmentally-friendly building materials

• Fire resistant

• Low exterior maintenance costs (rust–proofing, primer, and paint)

• Recycle and “rescue” a cargo box from decay

• Weather resistant

An ISBU container can be completely crafted and designed to be suitable living spaces in many parts of the world. In colder climates, the units can be insulated for year-round comfort. In warmer regions, the entire length of the unit can be made to open, allowed for a completely open floor plan and a patio deck. The patio deck feature can also be used in colder climates in the seasonable warm weather months of the year.

If you tell your family, friends, and colleagues you are considering to residing in an ISBU modular home, you will pique their interest as to what type of structure you are interested in purchasing.

You can espouse them with the modular design options and modern amenities, which will gain their support. At which time, you can segue into the environmentally-friendly construction and design using recycled building materials for the major component of the home structure. They will be even more supportive in you housing selection.

You can further impress them with the relative low cost of your new home. They will be in awe of your environmentally conscious behavior, frugality, and resourcefulness. After you got their attention and they are fully invested in your decision, you can tell them you are going to become an owner of a shipping container home and live on the forefront of environmental consciousness and ride the rising wave of globally responsible environmental housing. These new homes are beginning to gain acceptance among some environmentally conscious pioneering homesteaders.

These shelters are receiving a great deal of attention for their durability, relatively low cost, design flexibility, ease of construction and installation, and unique appearance.

Shipping container houses offer environmentally-friendly advantages:

• Repurposed and “green” construction
• No trees are needed to construct the structure frame
• Trees are only required for interior needs, walls, flooring, etc.
• Relatively small carbon footprint
• Reduced manufacturing and construction waste

The standardized design of shipping containers allows for nearly all the construction to be completed at the manufacturing facility. As a result, minimal construction material waste is accumulated on the installation site.

The manufacturers usually have many home interior appointments and customization options available for the buyers to design a living space to suit their personal tastes and lifestyles. Shipping container houses are more than merely a single metal box. Since the units are modular, they can be assembled, connected, and stacked in many different arrangements to accommodate your desires, lot size and shape, and needs.

The container home units are nearly turn-key ready for occupancy when they arrive on homeowner’s prepared lot. A cured concrete slab foundation is required on the lot before the unit(s) can be delivered and installed.

The electric and water utilities can be connected rather easily. The shipping container home and site may need to be inspected by local officials to ensure all building, construction, and safety codes are properly followed.

After all the construction and legal formalities are finalized, the family can enjoy the sanctuary of a unique and environmentally-friendly domicile.

Shipping container houses are not for everyone, but neither are flats, condominiums, or other high-density or unusual dwellings. Everyone has a dream home that suits their family. Many people are coming to accept a new standard of living in durable and highly-customizable container homes. These dwellings are showing up all over the world and in many climates. Modern technologies allow the containers to be completely livable spaces almost anywhere you can imagine.

Many people live in mobile homes. Think of a shipping container house as a 21th century green upgrade on the mobile homes, which were originally designed by automotive and aircraft engineers after World War II.

A new and environmentally-friendly perspective on pre-fab and modular homes is a groundbreaking step in repurposing the omnipresent and globetrotting metal boxes. Who knows, maybe the shipping container you choose to live in may have held a product that you purchased in the recent past?

Shipping container houses are gaining popularity with people who prefer to live in a dwelling that stands apart from a conventional construction home. The container homes are getting a lot of attention from environmentally-conscious global citizens and people who want to get off the grid and live a peaceful and secluded existence. Your home is your personal space and sanctuary in the world. You can live in a shipping container home and enjoy your life as you choose.

Containing The Empty Container Explosion

Container homes are constructed from shipping containers used to store cargo on ships sent all over the world. In recent years, because of a huge trade imbalance between China and the U.S. shippers have found it less expensive to purchase new containers than to ship empty containers back to their port of origin, leading to a large number of shipping containers being abandoned.

Shipping containers are made of highly durable materials, making it extremely wasteful for them to be simply dumped in landfills. Finding a way to recycle them would be a better and more efficient solution.

That’s why building cargo container homes from shipping containers has caught the imagination of so many environmentally responsible building enthusiasts. Cargo containers are built to withstand bumping, dropping and dragging on ships, as well as severe weather conditions that may occur as they make their crossing over the world’s oceans. In short, they’re tough.

Here’s the basic specs of your average cargo container:

- Twenty to 40 feet long, eight feet wide and eight feet, six inches tall.
- Steel components made of Corten steel, a rust and corrosion-resistant substance.
- Resistant to mold.
- Plywood or hardwood components with teak, birch or keruing laminates to help the container maintain its structural integrity even when its full of heavy objects.

Building A New Solution

The problems posed by cargo container proliferation and the advantages offered by their durable construction make them attractive to inventive builders and do-it-yourselfers who want to make a statement and a difference.

Since 2005, many builders in the U.S. and Europe have been constructing homes from cargo containers. Cargo container houses have been proven to be safe, durable and a great option for taking material that would otherwise be wasted to make something built to last. Celebrity builders such as Bob Villa have gotten in on the container home trend, teaching millions of do-it-yourself builders how to make their own shipping container homes.

As economic concerns continue to drag on the construction and housing industry, and worries about mankind’s impact on the environment increasingly intrude into the public consciousness, building homes from shipping containers provides a unique answer to many of these issues.

First, the home would be built out of used sea containers. Unfortunately, many companies in China and other countries are now making and selling containers directly to buyers while thousands of used cargo containers are stockpiled around many ports of the world. While there may be advantages to having a containers built for the purpose of home construction in my opinion it defeats the purpose. Saving the environment by recycling containers is what it should be all about.

What would my Container Home look like?

Having lived in Japan for over ten years I have discovered that less is definately more, thus simplicity and purpose will be the key to how I design my home. My home will be very much Zen influenced – lots of open space, very little furniture and lots of wood. I would like plenty of natural light, so big windows and a skylight are on the plans.

As I work from home I would also have a container office. I would like to have this separate from the main house. One container would be perfect for this.

Making my container home as environmetally friendly as possible is my goal. So I will have solar panneling, water tanks, and green garden roof and edible walls. That’s right, edible walls.

A few months ago I stumbled upon the concept of vertical farming – growing edible plants on specially designed walls. This new type of farming is actually no longer a concept as people are already growing fresh produce in urban environments. Also, known as Green Living Walls, edible walls have many benefits.

Living Green Walls:

• provide fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs
• reduce the energy needed for heating and cooling through shading and evapotranspiration,
• remove pollutants and carbon dioxide from the air,
• insulate buildings and rooms for sound
• beautify your surroundings immeasurably

My Rumpus Room

When I was child, I had a rumpus room which I loved as a child. When I was a teenager I loved rock climbing. So, if I can convience the wife I will combine the two and take a shipping container and turn it into a rockclimbing gym. I could have the container standing vertically. I could bolt rock imitation handholds to the walls on both the inside and outside of the container. That would keep me busy and fit for many years climbing up and down the container walls.

I will keep you updated on my dream container homes designs for my dream container home.