Solar Powered Sea-Can House is Made Completely From Shipping Containers

This large <a href="http://inhabitat.com/genussregal-shipping-container-showroom-promotes-regional-products-in-austria/">stack of shipping containers</a> in Canada is well on its way to becoming a huge house that will be completely self-sufficient. The home is the tireless work of Bill and Rosanne Glennon, and when they finish they will have a 5,000 square foot retirement abode with all the accoutrements. While this may sound like another oversized energy hog filling the Calgary landscape, the <a href="http://www.glennonseacanhome.ca/">Sea-Can Home</a> will recycle 30 shipping containers, use only solar, wind and wood for electricity and heat, and stand only two stories above the plains - making it one of the lowest impact large homes in Canada.

We have seen <a href="http://inhabitat.com/architecture/m2e-power/">a lot of houses</a> made from shipping containers, but few have approached the scale of the Sea-Can Home.

The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/fantastic-california-home-surprisingly-made-from-shipping-containers/">container home</a> was designed by its owner, and it shows - the boxy form and sliding windows are all about function.

The home is stacked three containers high with a large open space for a garage in the middle of the lower half.

Five bedrooms, a great room, and many other modern accouterments create a comfortable living space.

One of the containers on the side serves as an elevator shaft, providing access to a series of rooms below that house solar equipment, tools, a root cellar, a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/pixilated-swiss-wine-store-made-from-1500-wine-boxes/">wine room</a>, a large shop, and spare bedrooms.

The lower level will be buried to improve the energy performance and to reduce the home's visual impact. The upper stories will be finished in stucco, making the home look almost conventional.

The walls will be <a href="http://inhabitat.com/passive-houses-in-germany/">super insulated</a> to R-50 and the roof will be R-80 - as a result, the space can be heated primarily with a <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/energy-production/solar-thermal-power2.htm">solar thermal system</a> and wood.

A solar electric array and wind generator on the roof will supply the home's electrical needs.

The couple also intends to have a small farm on the site, making this a truly self-sufficient homestead.

Bill Glennon on the newly completed stairs to the roof.