EarthShips: Building Homes And Buildings That Sustain Themselves
Posted by carrie_roll
Michael Reynolds created the Earthship Concept to build sustainable homes from materials that people are currently throwing away all over the planet.
These are primarily rubber tires and aluminum cans.
We talked about this a while ago on GreenJoyment, but I don’t remember where or when, so I thought I would bring it back up again. I’ve learned a lot about Earth Ships since first talking about them, and hope that this post can give us enough of an idea about Earth Ships to work on ideas and talk about how to move forward with these ideas even in locations where the EarthShip teams aren’t able to travel (yet).
This 11 minute video explains the concepts and ideas of EarthShips very effectively.
Here’s a tour of one of the earthship houses (apparently right after construction)
The Weather Channel’s first special on Earth Ships
Here’s a link to the Weather Channel’s second Special on Earth Ships (why they choose to disable embedding, I have no idea)
Here’s a story from CBS News about Earth Ships:
Here are some EarthShip demonstration projects from:
- La Paz, Bolivia,
- Saiti, Japan
- Mount Kachenjunga, India (where they built a solar toilet)
More EarthShip demonstration projects from:
Honduras, Belgium, Lakota Sioux Country (Dakotas), and Mexicali Mexico
More EarthShip demonstration projects from:
Scotland, (Brighton) England, (Valencia) Spain, India
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Transcription of EarthShips video 1
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IMAGINE … Living in a home that cost you nothing to heat or cool.
IMAGINE … building this home yourself.
IMAGINE … growing your own vegetables year round in this home.
IMAGINE … no utility bills.
IMAGINE … easily available “limitless natural resources” to build this type of home.
IMAGINE … a more earth-friendly civilization.
IMAGINE … EARTHSHIPS.
Earthships demonstrate a way to live in harmony with the planet by encountering natural resources without defeating them. An Earthship is a passive-solar home made out of natural and recycled materials. It is off-grid, getting its power from the sun and wind; its water from the rain and snow and it re-uses, contains and treats its own waste water with a combination of wetlands and hydroponics.
We call the compilation of all these integrated systems biotecture.
RECYCLED MATERIALS
The major building component of an Earthship is used automobile tires; filled and compacted with earth to form a rammed-earth brick encased in steel-belted rubber. These bricks and the resulting load-bearing walls are virtually indestructible. The three-foot width massive walls and the method of incorporating them into the earth create living spaces with a thermodynamic that results in a stable room temperature.
Recycled cans and bottles are used as filler when packing out tire walls. They are also used like little bricks to form interior non-structure walls. A matrix of cement is formed which is the strength of these walls. The cans and bottles serve no structural or insulated purpose; they simply are a method of forming concrete into walls in a low-tech way using recycled materials instead of more cement and wood.
COMFORT
The formal mass construction of the tire walls work with passive-solar gain to create a warm living environment even on a freezing day. The stable mass temperature of 58 degrees trapped in the walls only needs a little solar gain to temper up to 70 degrees or whatever your comfort zone is.
The lower winter sun shoots deep into the house charging the dense massive walls and dense floors which in turn release that warmth back into the room when the air temperature of the room starts to drop. Alternately, the summer sun does not enter farther than the planter itself.
In addition to the thermo-cooling properties of these earth homes, passive ventilation systems assist in maintaining a comfortable temperature. Dormer and hopper windows, skylights and doors can be opened to allow the natural convection of fresh air.
Insulated shades against the glass face keep out the hot summer sun as well as to keep the heat inside on cold winter evenings. For extremely hot climates, a cooling tube can be added. In this case, the incoming air is channeled through a tube and buried eight feet in the earth; tapping into the cool earth temperature and drawing cooled air into the house.
WATER
There’s a limit to the amount of fresh water on the planet. In order to conserve and protect this precious resource, we have developed unique, catch-water, gray-water and black-water systems that work together to extend the use of a given amount of water.
Earthships efficiently use fresh water by using it four times. Rain and snow is caught on the roof and funneled into a cistern. This fresh water is prepared by the Water Organizing Module. This unit consists of a panel of filters and a DC pump which pushes the water into a conventional pressure tank. As water is needed, it is filtered, pumped and pressurized for household use.
Water that drains from the sinks and the shower passes through a grease and particle filter and then onto a gray-water treatment planter where plants flourish from the water. This interior water treatment sill is potentially a food producer, a source of beautiful and fragrant flora and an oxygen producer in addition to functioning as a cleaner for the gray- water. The extra water not used by the plants drops into a reservoir at the far end of the planter where it pumps and sends the cleaned gray-water to fill the toilet tank for flushing.
Used toilet water known as black-water is flushed outside for treatment in a conventional septic tank. The septic tank we use is solar-heated and glazed with south-facing window which enhances the anaerobic breakdown process. The unit functions like a regular septic tank with a line out to a conventional leech field in an alternative series of rubber-lined planter cells which feed the exterior landscaping while further cleansing the water.
Hot water is obtained from self-contained solar water heaters with gas-on-demand water heaters as a backup. Solar hot water is usually mounted onto the systems area and built into the shape of the building.
MECHANICS
The systems are packed into a room containing all of the equipment needed to run an Earthship except for the cistern which ideally lies very close to this area. We call this area a Systems Package. The Water Organizing Module, pressure tank, gray-water pump panel, batteries and the Power Organizing Module are all kept in this small room called the Systems Package.
POWER
An Earthship’s power is generated by the sun and wind. Solar panels and windmills collect energy which is sent to and stored in a bank of batteries located on top of the Systems Package in an insulated box accessible from the roof.
The stored power then goes to an energy management unit on the Power Organizing Module where it is converted and presented into conventional circuit breaker panels. This unit is a self-contained organizer and distributor of solar, wind, generator or grid power. It is available as a user-friendly, factory-assembled unit that is simply screwed onto your wall. Your local electrician conventionally wires your lights, appliances and outlets to this unit.
All systems in an Earthship are designed down, enabling its residents to live off a relatively small amount of water and power. For example, all built-in lighting is DC, using super-efficient light bulbs. The pumps for the water system are DC as well and the most power-consumptive appliance, the refrigerator, is a super-insulated, DC refrigerator.
STYLES
We’ve classified the Earthship into three categories:
Packaged;
Modular; and
Custom.
There are a wide variety of floor plans and Solar Survival sales construction drawings for each one.
The packaged Earthship is the most economical, quickest and easiest-to-build self-sufficient building. The economy and ease of construction are a result of pre-packaged structural and mechanical components.
Plans for single-level and split-level, vertical-glassed Earthships are available. These usually have vertical glass as this is the most economical and versatile way of glazing.
The classic design is the modular Earthship. A floor plan for this consists of the combination of either circular or U-shaped rooms and a Systems Package area connected by a greenhouse hallway with either angled or vertical glass windows.
Custom Earthships combine basic principles and your personal dreams. If you’ve got a pocketbook to match, the sky’s the limit. Solar Survival staff is available at hourly rates to make your dreams a reality.
All of these homes are independent and can be built in any environment. The designs can adapt to any climate from hot and dry to cold and wet and all in between.
COMMUNITIES
Here in New Mexico the desire to live in a sustainable home has brought people together to form three Earthship communities. The Reach Community is located at 9,500 feet in the mountains above the town of Taos. The Star Community is located near Carson, New Mexico bordering the national forest. Started in 1994, the Greater World Community is 633 acres of rolling mesa with a deep gorge, 15 miles from Taos, New Mexico. This community is easily accessible from 2 miles of highway frontage skirting its western boundary. The Greater World is designed for 130 home sites totaling 286 acres. In addition, 347 acres of natural parkland are owned in common by all members of the Greater World.
We are currently reclaiming a discarded gravel pit located within the Greater World. Plans call for 24 Earthships to be built close together turning once-scarred and damaged land into a thriving neighborhood and greenbelt. High-density situations are very possible. We have high-density areas in each community in the gravel pit reclamation project and Greater World is growing. Given the right circumstance, entire cities can be built without infrastructure.
GLOBAL OUTREACH
We have commando building crews that can go anywhere on the planet and build Earthship structures. We build all over the world and in any environment. Structures have been built in diverse locations such as Belgium, Honduras, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Mexico and even at 14,000 feet in Bolivia and more.
We have the ability to go worldwide to train people to build Earthships. The materials are indigenous to the entire planet and readily available. Ten of our builders could train ten of yours who could in turn, train hundreds more. The possibilities go on and on.
Sewage contamination, dwindling energy and water resources, garbage and the lack of affordable housing are all problems that cities around the country and world are facing. Earthships offer tangible solutions to these problems.
Solar Survival
HYPERLINK “http://www.earthship.com” www.Earthship.com
HYPERLINK “http://www.earthship.org” www.Earthship.org
PO Box 1041
Taos, NM 87571
(505) 751-0462
Fax: (505) 751-1005
Narrator: Michael Reynolds
Music: Billy West
Video Production: Tom & Amy Duke
For more info, check out the EarthShip web site
Popularity: 7% [?]
2 Responses to “EarthShips: Building Homes And Buildings That Sustain Themselves”
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Hey Frank!
Thanks for commenting. I definitely disagree with your opinion though.
I find that affluence has very little to do with whether or not someone is willing to economize. I find that affluent people tend to be more concerned about their property values, while less affluent people tend to be more concerned about how someone not paying into the system is going to raise their utility costs.
I think the key overall lies in educating individuals as to the value of homes like these and being willing to work with the system, until persistence pays off. Michael Reynolds’ life is an awesome example of this – someone who spent 30 years of his life fighting the system, to finally get the permission he needed to experiment with renewable projects in New Mexico and build these EarthShips.
Have you seen Garbage Warrior? We learned a lot about what it’s taken for Michael Reynolds to get the government to allow and encourage EarthShips from that movie.
I like the idea of no utility bill, but with the location of these earthships being so remote, where do they get their salaries. Someone once built a similar below the ground home in Glenview, IL, on Dearlove Rd., between Glenview Rd. and Central Rd. The nearbye residents raised such a stink that the construction was abandoned, and I’d be surprised if the partially built structure isn’t still there. Many people are too snobbish to economise, especially if they are afflurent.