There are several reasons for recycling shipping containers into homes rather than something else. One of the most important reasons is the amount of energy required to repurpose them. David Cross, a business development director, explains that melting down an 8000 lb steel shipping container to make steel beams, for example, requires 8000 kW-hrs of energy. The process of recycling that entire 8000 lbs of steel into a shipping container home takes only 400 kW-hrs of electrical energy or about 5% of the energy needed to melt it.

Reusing shipping containers in this way saves not only electrical energy but also the expenditure of human energy (time and labor costs) and the fuel used to ship them back to their country of origin. And since they are built to factory specifications, a lot of guesswork is eliminated. This reduces construction time for building crews and wasted materials. The nature of shipping containers as building material also allows for the possibility of a number of energy-saving designs. So shipping container homes are energy efficient in many ways.

Besides saving energy in a variety of ways, it is much kinder to the earth to recycle rather using shipping containers as land landfill. Steel is not exactly compostable material. It is not magically going to turn into organic matter that will nourish plants. Why would we put our non-compostables into the earth that sustains us in so many ways? It seems illogical that we would dump reusable materials into landfills and let them sit there forever rather than recycle what we can.

Also, since the 1980s, scientists have repeatedly warned us that the world faces a landfill crisis. Former Vice President Al Gore, for example, asserted we are “running out of ways to dispose of our waste in a manner that keeps it out of either sight or mind.” Everything we make comes from natural resources. Sustainability is the only model that makes sense. Everything we manufacture should be easily re-tooled to be reusable . This is the proper role for technology. This is true harmony with the earth. This is the third degree of reparation.

The primary goal of building a green home is to reduce its environmental impact while also creating a healthy environment for its’ occupants. Architects and builders do this by emphasizing energy efficiency, reducing fresh water use, selecting materials that are free from harmful chemicals and sustainable, and by building in such a say that minimizes environmental disturbance.

Prefab design construction offers a number of unique opportunities to accomplish these goals. First, the control available in a factory environment allows the designer / builder to be very precise with material planning and use – there is very little waste left over when compared to standard construction techniques. Second, hard-to-find green materials can be bought in bulk and used over many projects, minimizing delays and ensuring that no “short cuts” are taken due to unavailable materials. Third, this bulk purchasing and the delivery of a small number of completed modules to the home site dramatically reduce pollution from transportation to and from the site. And finally, the disturbance of the home construction site can be minimized because there is no need to stage and store large amounts of material onsite for extended periods. All construction takes place off site in a factory. A good prefab contractor might clear only the house footprint itself and enough room to deliver the completed modules. Building a prefab shipping container home is earth friendly.

They also nearly eliminate the use of trees to build a home.