Perhaps not so much anymore to this day, but especially some years ago there was this minor craze of taking old discarded ship cargo containers (ie. those enormous metallic elongated-box-shaped containers used by cargo ships to transport stuff) and building small "pod-type" domiciles out of them.
The notion was one of recycling, of course: Rather than just throw these old unused cargo containers away to rust and rot, why not reuse them for something useful, like building an inhabitable small cabin out of one? Not only does this recycling give a sense of being ecological, but the idea of living in a small comfy, somewhat rustic domicile, while at the same time saving the environment, can feel appealing.
There are many problems with this, though.
For starters, cargo containers are made out of steel, and steel is not a very polluting substance. It's not toxic, it does not release toxins when in nature, and it has only very minimal if any impact on the environment. Sure, it might not look nice if there are tons of rusted steel laying around in nature (and it genuinely would be nicer if it weren't there), but it's not extraordinarily polluting nor dangerous either. So it's not like you are saving the planet by reusing steel in this manner.
A much more major problem is that, quite ironically, these "cargo container pod houses" achieve the exact opposite of that good intention. In other words, rather than reduce environmental contamination, they just cause more burden on the environment than other much better forms of domicile construction.
Not necessarily in the sense that the finished product would be extraordinarily polluting (compared to other forms of domicile), but in that the construction of these domiciles require much more resources.
It should be quite obvious that in order to make a cargo container livable, it requires a lot of work and extra stuff installed. More particularly, steel is not a very good temperature insulator, compared to eg. wood, bricks or concrete, and thus you need extra insulation in such a steel container compared to what you would need eg. in a brick house (because bricks have a much better temperature insulation than thin steel). Extra insulation is not free (neither economically nor in terms of how much producing it burdens the environment.)
The inside of the container also requires a lot more work to be livable. Floors are more elaborate to construct, windows and doors are more elaborate to install, water pipes, sewage pipes and electric wiring is more elaborate to install.
As ironic as it might sound, it would literally be more environmentally friendly to build such a cabin out of wood rather than using a steel cargo container.
The entire idea is just outright silly.
Comments
Post a Comment