Wow, that's cool. I wish they were going to be commercially available, I know exactly what I'd do with one...

why can't we sink world crisis aid money to ship a low tech version of these to earthquake victims like those in India this 2nd winter or Sudan refugees?

"Its main purpose is to raise awareness internationally of Canadian capabilities, not just for Canada’s sake, but for the sake of those who want to learn from us about how to live softly, smartly, and stylishly on this shared planet."

not to be a total downer, but Canadians use more energy per capita than just about anyone, even the US. what could this quote be talking about?

(http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/canenv.html)

We may use more energy in average than anybody else but there some considerations to take into account.
1: our climate of minus 30 during winter (which persist for almost 8 months) cause us to spend a lot of energy to heat our houses.
2: our economy is base alot on paper making factory and aluminum industry which consumes a lot of energy
3: We are approx. 30 millions people in canada versus 300 million in us so we don't share as much our power consumption

Maybe if you consider all these factors you'll see that the fact that we need a lot of power rely on constraints on which we haven't control.

Sorry for the syntax, i'm a french canadian...

Canada uses a lot of energy but a large part of that is industrial heating. While you can survive in the U.S. without air conditioning, there are few places in Canada that can do without heating. Homes can be heated with gas, but I've never heard of that for offices. That said we could still be doing more for the environment than we are. That's my $0.02 for a little perspective.

and this site (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/canenv.html)
is an American site and we all know the US doesn't lie to make them look good right !

Neat, but where do you sleep?

Where do you plug this in? Where do you dump the waste? This cannot maintian a faimily of 4 without hook-up, at least not for long. Not very Green if you ask me.

Do they have bigger housing available? This is a really cool concept. If kept not so chic, you could deploy this to areas like Katrina for example and have decent housing that is portable.

Mostly silvery I would say.

You mean like a mobile home?

i don't buy the "it's cold" argument. compare Canada to Sweeden. at best, all you're really saying is "we're like Americans, except it's cold," which still makes Canadians among the worst in the world. kind of silly to be making prototype houses that absolutely nobody will live in and then giving yourself a pat on the back about how "low impact" you are, and how everyone should learn from you, no?

Where do you plug this in? Where do you dump the waste? This cannot maintian a faimily of 4 without hook-up, at least not for long. Not very Green if you ask me. - Anonymous

Okay, I'll bite o' anonymous troller.

If you had had actually followed the links provided you would see that there is a composting toilet provided by Sun Mar. Since you probably can't be bothered to go read the site and look at all the pretty pictures then here is a Direct Link to the picture of the toilet.

It also has a bio-deiesel heater and stove, and LED lighting all of which greatly reduce the need to "plug in." But I see (glancing at the list of items donated to the project that Xantrex donated an inverter, though whether it is an RV or one of their solar or wind inverters.

So, how exactly is this not Green?

Lol, you should drop a thousadn of these over the Sudan so the people who dont get squashed by them will have somewhere to live.

Now all we need are a couple of these: http://www.sun.com/emrkt/blackbox/story.jsp, and we can set up a little container community!

Okay, lets look at this thing. It is, basically, a shipping container with pre-fab Ikea-clone parts glued to its edges, plus or minus a smart plumbing/heating/water-supply system commonly used in .. ahem .. SUV's, etc.

So, all that stuff, shipped to you from China, in a standard shipping crate akin to how it was all (bulk) shipped to Canada in the first place.

Canadians, turning 'shipping crate #123723 full of household goods' into a home .. just a little shake, eh ..

Okay, I'm not buying the Canadian part. All I really need is a shipping container, the HVAC bits, the tools, and a whole block of wood.

I like my RV better.

sean godsell had a prototype for refugee use several years ago called 'future shack'. google it. i think it was more innovative than this 'canadian genius'.

given the feeble insulation, the only way this thing could be green in canada would be as a second (summer) home... and how green is that? ok, ok... just sayin'.

hey guys, the post says: "It is an exhibition piece rather than a real living space"- it is not meant to be a real living space.

exhibition piece...what does that mean? the creator is just kidding? clearly it's a living space concept.

it also says it's for "those who want to learn from us about how to live softly, smartly, and stylishly on this shared planet." which is what is being debated here. this is all just healthy skepticism.

what is the cost?

American/Canadian arguments aside, would you really want to go out into the wilderness for a bit of 'Back to nature' and find hundreds of shipping containers scattered around? They're not the prettiest of things.

This product is available commercially. I used to work with the company that designed and built it in Canada, Weatherhaven, Burnaby, Vancouver. See it on the weatherhaven website: www.weatherhaven.com it is called the MECC.

Hi there, I wanted to clear up a few things on this stream of posts.

First in response to this comment, "given the feeble insulation, the only way this thing could be green in canada would be as a second (summer) home... and how green is that?"

The outer shell of the ATC project is a "MECC" by Weatherhaven and they are rated for 32 below zero and are currently deployed in conditions from arctic to desert. There is ample insulation in the two layers of tefalon tarp as well as hard insulation in the floor and ceiling and BARK put two ways to heat the ATC. It has a biodiesal stove I have been working with BARK to animate this exhibit of Canadian designed off the grid living called the All Terrain Cabin. I wanted to clear up a few misconceptions in this stream of posts.

First in response to this comment,
"given the feeble insulation, the only way this thing could be green in canada would be as a second (summer) home... and how green is that?"

The outer shell of the ATC project is a "MECC" unit by Weatherhaven rated for 32 below zero and are currently deployed in conditions from arctic to desert ( they have been in use and production for the last 12 years ). There is insulation between two layers of airtight Teflon tarpaulin as well as hard insulation in the floor and ceiling.

The ATC, as designed by Bark, has a bio diesel stove that is a cooking and heating unit. The ATC also has a forced air system that runs in tandem with your water heater (which also runs on bio diesel). As it heats your water it also heats glycol that is used in a heat exchange unit like a radiator and a fan would push this warmth into the bedroom when needed. Given that the interior space of the ATC is only 320 square feet it wouldn’t take much energy to heat.

In response to these comments
Where do you plug this in? Where do you dump the waste? This cannot maintian a faimily of 4 without hook-up, at least not for long. Not very Green if you ask me. – Anonymous

You don’t plug this in! That is the point. Bark designed this exhibit home to showcase what modern day off the grid living can look like using all Canadian products.

For example the Sun Mar composting toilet we showcase, uses a small amount of electricity to dehydrate your waste, and with a bark mulch starter, becomes potting soil in approx. 2 weeks. All of the faucets and shower head are designed for low flow minimizing your consumption in the first place. The water is collected from rain water and held in tanks. This water is treated with filters and UV light to make it potable. The grey water system has been designed to recycle your shower and sink water once (there are filters in place to take out the particulates) before it is discharged into your garden for irrigation. This means no sewer or septic tank is needed and the garden gets all of the nutrients of your “waste”.

In response to this comment,
why can't we sink world crisis aid money to ship a low tech version of these to earthquake victims like those in India this 2nd winter or Sudan refugees?

This is what the Weatherhaven “MECC” unit has been doing already. It is a great Canadian product that is literally engineered to withstand being dropped into remote areas and can be set up as a temporary hospital in a day. Bark used this cool product to house all of the other great Canadian designs that make up the All Terrain Cabin as a way to inspire Canadians to invest in Canadian design and to live more lightly on this earth.

The products that make up the All Terrain Cabin are available to you to make your current home more energy efficient. You do not need the unfolding shipping container to start your path to a lighter foot print. We at BARK see the All Terrain Cabin as a new cultural icon for Canada. By supporting Canadian design one also supports an economically stronger Canada and we don’t have to sacrifice love of design to make a difference. The wood used within the ATC is all certified and the paints and finishes are all non solvent based et cetera. The fridge is low energy draw unit from Nova Kool and there are several examples of great LED lights that give off good readable white light (check out MP lighting).

BARK gives you a list of all of the people who have donated there time, services or product to the ATC project and we encourage you to use our resources when you remodel or build. So if you live in a Yurt, Straw bale or Concrete penthouse the ideas and products showcased in the All Terrain Cabin are yours to use. For more info go to www.barkbark.ca

$180,000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!