Editing Intermodal container (section)

===Repurposing===
[[File:Cholula container city.jpg|thumb|Container City in [[Cholula, Puebla#Landmarks|Cholula]], Mexico uses fifty old sea containers for {{convert|4500|m2|-3|abbr=on}} of workshops, restaurants, galleries, etc., as well as some homes.]]

Half the containers that enter the United States leave empty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2879.htm|title=No. 2879: Empty Shipping Containers|website=uh.edu}}</ref> Their value in the US is lower than in China, so they are sometimes used for other purposes. This is typically but not always at the end of their voyaging lives. The US military often used its [[Conex container]]s as on-site storage, or easily transportable housing for command staff and medical clinics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swampfox.info/miltermsgloss/complete_glossary.html |title=Glossary of Military Terminology |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |access-date=21 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223214145/http://swampfox.info/miltermsgloss/complete_glossary.html |archive-date=23 February 2015}}</ref> Nearly all of the more than 150,000 Conex containers shipped to Vietnam remained in the country, primarily as storage or other mobile facilities.{{sfnp|Monograph 7: Containerization|1970|pp=9–11}} Permanent or semi-permanent placement of containers for storage is common.  A regular forty-foot container has about {{convert|4000|kg|lb|order=flip|sigfig=1}} of steel, which takes {{convert|8000|kWh|0|abbr=on|lk=on}} of energy to melt down. Repurposing used shipping containers is increasingly a practical solution to both social and ecological problems.

[[Shipping container architecture]] employs used shipping containers as the main framing of modular home designs, where the steel may be an integrated part of the design, or be camouflaged into a traditional looking home. They have also been used to make temporary shops, cafes, and [[Modular data center|computer datacenters]], e.g. the [[Sun Modular Datacenter]].

Intermodal containers are not [[Structural integrity and failure|strong enough]] for conversion to underground bunkers without additional bracing, as the walls cannot sustain much lateral pressure and will collapse.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Also, the wooden floor of many used containers could contain some fumigation residues, rendering them unsuitable as confined spaces, such as for prison cells or bunkers. Cleaning or replacing the wood floor can make these used containers habitable, with proper attention to such essential issues as ventilation and insulation.