Ecopods: Shipping Container Housing Available Now
Dwight Doerkson has developed "an affordable eco friendly building that’s transportable and doesn’t need to be hooked up to the grid"- out of shipping containers. He cuts out an entire wall and hinges it, so when you want to leave your ecopod you simply flip a switch and a solar powered winch pulls up the deck and closes up the box. 
The floors are recycled rubber, the walls are FSC birch ply over a bio-based green foam insulation, the optional toilet is composting and fridge is solar powered.
From their website: "The eco-pod began its life as a shipping container, hence its sturdy, engineered form and tight weather seal. The imbalance of goods traveling from East to West has created a surplus of these in North America, which means that the purchase price is a fraction of the original manufacturing cost - this saving is then passed on to you, the 'end user'. The process of recycling can itself require a huge amount of energy, although in this case we are working within the parameters of what exists already, so again less energy consumed means both lower production costs and a much smaller 'carbon footprint.'"
"We wanted to go even further with this ethos, so we incorporated rubber flooring recycled from shredded car tires into the design as well as an entire range of off-grid options including a solar-powered refrigerator, XM radio and 12V lighting and wall outlets powered from a roof-mounted solar panel. Even the composting toilet requires very little maintenance and costs a fraction of the traditional septic bed system."
Interview of Dwight Doerkson
Units start at about $40,000 and being shipping containers, can go anywhere. ::ecopodsMore Shipping Container Prefab in TreeHugger:Shipping Container Prefab : Shipping Container House By Ross StevensShipping Container Funhouse From Phooey ArchitectsTreeHugger Picks: Shipping Containers Do More Than ShipContainer Condo To Be Built In DetroitFutureShack by Sean Godsell
