The concept of Earthships exists about 30 years and has been continuously improved over the years. The idea is to create a totally independant, off-the-grid, sustainable housing unit.
Earthships, building concept
The building concept is completely ecological and incorporates most of the topics described in our bio-architecture page.
Solar energy system for water heating
Solar and wind power system for all the electricity needed.
Bio-climatic design including solar passive heating and cooling.
The 3 suggested water treatment systems: rain water harvesting, greywater filtering, collection and reuse for gardening, and blackwater processing.
The concept includes the recycling of garbage and rejected materials: tires, tin cans, plastic and glass bottles.
This is the part of the concept that raises a problem for me. I don’t like the idea that the walls in of home are full of garbage, feng shui theories wouldn’t approve that. Garbage is not considered as an energy you want to build your home with.
To me it sounds right to use recycled tires and glass bottles, after they have been cleaned and purified. I wouldn’t use tin cans and plastic bottles.
Rammed earth is a good solution too. You can use recycled tires for the foundations, and rammed earth walls without garbage above.
This video shows what exactly is rammed earth, on a quite funny way.
Since the Earthship concept exists for many years, there are many earthships around the planet today, which means you can visit some and find lots of information from people who have build one.
Here is a video film to start with
Earthship Global Operations is the main site for Earthship information.
The best way to learn about a subject is to hear from other people’s experience!