Container Greenhouses – The Urban Organic Heaven

What if you wanted to eat locally produced and reasonably priced fresh organic fruits and vegetables during cold winter? Now it is possible, thanks to shipping containers.

Companies such as Freight Farms and PodPonics have introduced a new business model that converts second hand shipping containers into high-quality greenhouses that can be relocated almost everywhere. Every shipping container is manufactured according to ISO standards and they are also designed to be stacked into multiple layers. This enables the establishment of even bigger greenhouse complexes.

One major advantage of container farms is that now farms can be located closer to the places where the food will be eaten. Thereby, say, restaurants can minimize their shipping costs and still offer their customers fresh and high quality food. Also the technology associated with the business ensures a safe plantation of fruits, herbs and vegetables.

Damien Chivialle‘s model of urban farm units (UFU) has a system that uses live fishes and to to fertilize and recycle the farms water. Every container has a fish tank whose water flows in a closed circuit. The fish feces are broke into pieces that are utilized as fertilizers. The system also produces some methane for the farms secondary energy source. (source)

Also PodPonics’ solution is said to use 90 % less water because the water is recycled. The roots grow in water, not in soil. This solution minimizes the use of fertilizers and enables the adding of nutrients only as needed (source). PodPonics’ and Freight Farms control systems can both be operated with a smart phone.

The use of shipping containers as green houses seems to enhance the nutritional values of vegetables, herbs and fruits. It also enables companies to produce them closer to the people who end up eating them. Because of a really low Co2 footprint and lack of pesticides, urban farms create ultimate food safety. Now this food safety can also be enjoyed by average consumers because the cost of maintenance of urban farms seem to be feasible. For example PodPonics’ containers cost US 1800 to 2800 depending on their condition (source).

In order to establish an urban farm, shipping containers need to be purchased. Shanghai Metal Corporation is a reliable provider of internationally standardized shipping containers. More information can be found on our website (http://www.smccontainer.com). Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Singularityhub, Designboom, Forbes, Overgrow the System, Pando Daily, Motionpictures blog

The Cure that Lowers Aggression Caused by High Temperatures

Many philosophers, writers and narrators have for ages shared a common belief that hot temperatures increase violence and aggression. Even in the English language we use expressions such as “hot tempered” or “hot headed” to describe the character of an aggressive person. Scientists have also been interested in this connection for years, and through various studies, they have also found evidence for the correlation.

Many laboratory, field, correlational and archival studies give an unanimous result: hot temperature causes violent crimes. The emphasis is on the word violent, because contradictional  studies show that crimes also do occur in lower temperatures but they are most commonly non-violent. Also archival studies show that when the weather is hot e.g. a baseball player is more likely to hit the pitcher with a bat (source).

Still, the correlation between high temperature and violence is not flawless. For instance, what if everybody stayed at home on a hot day? Wouldn’t that prevent at least some occurrences of violence? Time is also a critical factor in this sense. Most of the violent crimes occur during the time when masses of people are most likely to engage in activities at the same time. In general, when a third variable changes the correlation between two variables so remarkably, we are talking about the Simpson paradox. In this case time changes the situation so that the relation between temperature and violence needs some modification.

Scientists have redefined the correlation and state that when the temperature rises above an uncomfortable level, the probability for aggression and violence rises as well. Therefore it is really important to ensure that especially public places such as schools,  shopping malls and even prisons have an enhanced air conditioning system. A research also shows that drinking cold beverages will decrease the probability of becoming angry (source).

Especially today, during the times of increased global warming, it is really important for countries and cities to keep their citizens cool. Today when we discuss global warming, the emphasis seems to be on natural disasters or effects on agriculture. What we are very likely to forget that because global warming raises temperatures, the crime rates will also increase. Most global warming experts predict that if temperatures rise between  2°F and 8°F (1.1°C to 4.4°C) the rates of violent assaults will also increase by approximately 80,000 annually.

A new business idea for areas suffering from global warming (which by the way means everywhere on the planet) is to establish pop-up cooling rooms, places where temperature is substantially low and where people can spend a short time to cool down. This can be easily implemented with refrigerated shipping containers whose temperature can decrease drastically (on extreme even below zero). In order to decrease crime rates and increase public safety we really need to keep even the common people cool and prevent their blood from boiling.

Shanghai Metal Corporation is a major supplier of high quality refrigerated containers that are equipped with fresh air conditioning system and have a low Co2 footprint. More details about our reefer containers can be found in our website (www.smccontainer.com). Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also our mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Psychology Today, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Sage Journals, Livestrong.com, Usmra.com, Kingwood.com, Everykidwins.com, Photobucket, Crazycreolemommy.com

Reefer Containers – The Best Tool for Shipping Penguins!

People are shipping some strange things these days. A British news service Metro lists 10 weirdest items that people have ever shipped. The list includes a dead cat, a live hamster and a hot shepherd’s pie. The Denizen magazine writes about a person who shipped Heinz ketchup from the United States to Singapore. FedEx has also gathered a list of the weirdest items they have ever shipped. Some items are temperature sensitive a therefore require a refrigerated shipping container. What could be a good example of such an item? Well, penguins!

The FedEx Corporation actually shipped nineteen African blackfoot penguins that were saved from the Hurricane Katrina in 2006. The penguins traveled with two sea otters in airfreight back to New Orleans from California where they spent their eight-month refuge. The chartered flight of US$100, 000 was donated by FedEx and the penguins had a nice reception with a purple mat waiting them at the airport.

Unlike African penguins, antarctic penguins live in very extreme conditions and can survive a cold breezy weather. For example Emperor Penguins are one of the most warm-blooded animals on the planet enabling them to breed even in low temperatures of -30°C (-22°F) and while putting up with winds of 200 kmh (125mph) and more. The emperor penguins can maintain a 38°C degree body temperature mostly by huddling with other penguin buddies in a flock.

Besides an international shipping permission, shipping temperature sensitive items such as penguins, otters or camel milk, one needs a refrigerated shipping container. Shanghai Metal Corporation has a long experience in supplying high-quality reefer containers. In Shanghai Metal we only sell environmentally friendly reefer containers that have a low Co2 footprint. Our containers can maintain a temperature of -35°C at the lowest. More information about our refrigerated containers can be found in our website. Also feel free to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also try our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: sucai.dabaoku.com, image.baidu.com, coolantarctica.com, metro.co.uk, denizenmag.com, fedex.com, USA Today

The World’s Biggest Mobile Fridge Sailed in Paris

The Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Versailles, Moulin Rouge, those are the places to visit in Paris. In 2009, the city of love also became famous of a creative marketing campaign.

The Korean electronics company LG set up a creative marketing campaign for their ecological fridge. The company, one of South Korea’s largest chaebols, turned a 70 meter container ship into the world’s biggest fridge that sailed up the Seine from Le Havre to Paris between June 22 and June 25. The vessel transported cooking ingredients that the famous 3-star Michelin chef Alain Passard cooked for visiting journalists.

LG’s ecological fridge uses a patented “Linear Compressor” technology that is to lower energy consumption up to 20 percent compared to other conventional fridges. The new fridge technology has also received an A+ rating from the EU.

Refrigerated containers, or reefer containers, are mainly used for shipping temperature sensitive products even with extremely long distances. Reefer container technology enabled for instance the shipping of Camel Milk from the United Arab Emirates to Europe. Please, read the whole story here.

As businesses are getting more aware of the benefits of refrigerated containers, new uses for them are emerging. Reefer containers are basically tools that combine mobility and cold chain. One can set up a temperature sensitive business and still vary its location. For example, Atlanta’s Botanical Garden used a refrigerated container to set up a mobile bio-secure research laboratory for their research  on frogs in 2011. Reefer containers are also convenient in, say, open-air events where organizers need to keep their heavy loads of Red Bulls and Coca-Colas chilled all the time.

Like LG, Shanghai Metal Corporation‘s reefer containers also use environmentally friendly and energy efficient technology that generate a really low CO2 footprint. We also apply high standards in their quality assurance. To learn more about our refrigerated containers, please visit our website. Please also follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original stories: Container Technology Inc., SlipperyBrick.com, Gcaptain.com, Btwins.net, Stickboydaily.com,