640-Square-Foot Solar-Powered Shipping Container House with Greenhouse for $25,000

Man designs greenhouse home that could get you totally off-grid for as little as $25,000

This do-it-yourself shipping container house is designed to get people off the grid for cheap.

The simple, energy-efficient design incorporates recycled shipping containers, a greenhouse, and solar power.

The shipping containers serve as a 640-square-foot. two-story house:

Later, a greenhouse is attached, not only to grow food, but to warm the house:

Cut out some windows and add wood paneling for insulation if you want:

The greenhouse is so efficient at warming, solar panels are sufficient to power the whole house:

“I wanted to design something that met the basic criteria for self-sufficiency while providing maximum living area, small footprint, and a large growing area to produce as much food as you could possibly eat,” writes the designer and founder of OffGridLiving.net Eric Wichman.

If you’re a handy person with any building experience, you can put this “bare-bones” structure together for about $25,000 Wichman says.

But even if you had to hire some help, you could still have a super sturdy, super energy-efficient home and garden for relatively cheap.

Wichman started Off Grid Living Magazine to share his wealth of ideas for how to affordably get off-grid and become more self-sufficient. This home design is one of many he’s come up with.