I'm interested in building and owning one myself is all. It is a self sustaining home that provides its own electricity via solar and wind technology and recycles water collected from rain, snow and humidity. It provides a year round garden you can cultivate for food as well as your own fish farm via aquaponics. It can be built and provide a stable habitable temperature under any weather condition in almost part of the world and is almost 100% eco friendly. The cost of building one is comparable to a conventional home however the benefits of owning one is the house takes care of you instead of you pouring money into renovating your house as well as paying expensive utility bills. The average utility bill for an earthship is $100 per year. If you build one yourself minus the cost of building one is roughly $75/per square foot. Having one built by a professional contractor is roughly $150/per square foot. The majority of the materials used to build an earthship such as wall structure can be had for free by using old used tires that can be packed with soil. They do not need to be so alien looking in aesthetic design. It just happens to be a preferred style from Michael Reynolds, the architect that came up with the earthship design. Here is a TED Talk from the architect of Earthships, Michael Reynolds. http://youtu.be/FON-UK_1kyI <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FON-UK_1kyI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Here is a documentary that shows a family that lived in the UK that moved to France to build their own Earthship. It's pretty interesting. http://youtu.be/krWgtnJRAUg <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/krWgtnJRAUg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Shorter TLDW clip of an earthship being built. http://youtu.be/L9jdIm7grCY <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L9jdIm7grCY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> More information can be had at: http://earthship.com/ Interesting videos and books on how to build your own can be had online at the bay of pirates. I'm not a tree hugging hippie but I think buying a plot of land in Colorado or a peaceful beach side view in a country in Central America would be incredible. The only cons I've read about them is earlier designs have a harder time regulating temperature but that there are more modern methods introduced to address this issue. I personally would have my own concerns with Radon levels since the house is built roughly 6 feet deep into the earth, plus concerns about repair costs when plumbing or electrical issues arise.
LOL. I am a LOTR fan but no it's not. Nor is it a thread for the end of the world is near, must build a bomb shelter for survival people. I just think the houses themselves are really interesting and think it'd be really interesting to own a house that provides you food year round, stable temperatures under any climate and is friendly on your wallet when it comes to paying utilities.
who doesn't know someone that owns or built a self sustaining solar home made of recycled materials and tires?
I have 2 friends who own Earthships, actually. One used a contractor from the beginning and the other eventually brought on a contractor when he realized he wasn't up to the challenge. I've been to one of them multiple times and the other just once. They weren't too appealing to me, but since the guys who had these Earthships in this story I've made up were former Keebler elves, they were very happy. *Cue South Park episode on hybrids.
Ya I kinda figured I'd be better off searching for an earthship forum if I wanted more information. I just kind of figured this is the internet and you never know if someone's ever done a nightly rental at one of the homes in Taos or had a friend of a friend that gave it a shot. I'm more interested in what building codes and what sort of costs it would take to even begin construction on one in the Austin area.
It has both. The solar and wind energy is stored in a DC unit. You can run any appliance in the house.
The self sustaining energy aspect is appealing, though upon brief googling, the designs leave much to be desired. Very of Much's.
only $150/sf? sounds too cheap. have you ever thought about doing this sort of idea with a storage container type house? edit...i guess that is what it costs....it's pretty interesting stuff. i have been learning more about this type of sustainable/renewable housing lately and this is another cool one.
You've probably already seen this but here is a map from the EPA that shows radon threat levels. Zone 1 being the worst and zone 3 being safer. http://www.epa.gov/radon/pdfs/zonemapcolor.pdf and I just found this so I guess you can radon-proof homes. http://inspectapedia.com/Energy/Radon_Basics.htm
