A simple ‘bunk house’ using recycled shipping containers. (more…)

To build an eco-friendly house is not as simple as placing some solar panels on your roof. You need to start from the ground up. So lets start with the foundation. Cement production creates large amounts of CO2. So Zerocabin builds its structure foundations using eco-cement.

Eco-Cement is a new more environmentally sustainable type of blended cement which incorporates reactive magnesia and wastes that is more environmentally sustainable. Eco-Cement used to make porous concretes absorbs CO2 and water from the atmosphere to set and harden. It can also be recycled back to Eco-Cement.

Next the actual structure of ZeroCabin is using recycled shipping containers.

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Here are some more details…

-accommodates 80 people
-occupies less than 8000 sqft
-elevators and stairs located in triangular ends
-each unit comprised of one 20′ container
-4-40′ containers for storage units and maintenance at ground level
-easily scaled up or down to suit needs
-assembled on site in under 2 weeks (site servicing not included)

Full concept

These images are conceptual renderings for the 2010 Olympic games designed by Keith Dewey at Zigloo.ca

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Millions of shipping containers passing through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach next year will be assessed a new fee designed to improve air quality and remove a political obstacle that has stymied expansion of the country’s largest port complex.

Both seaports, which adjoin each other but operate independently, approved a $35 cargo fee this week for 20-foot container units that enter or exit the ports on trucks that do not meet 2007 emissions standards.

more info…

New York City is seeking innovative ideas for providing Provisional Housing for residents who may lose their homes as the result of a catastrophic coastal storm.

Because of the city’s high population density and the desire to resettle as many residents as possible in their former neighborhoods, a new paradigm is sought to supplement existing temporary housing programs. Such existing programs typically rely on the deployment of single-household manufactured homes or trailers. Successful proposals will provide living spaces at a density level significantly higher than what is now conventionally provided in temporary structures.

Winners will be announced in early February, 2008