Earthships: An Off the grid dream home

Michael Reynolds. Based in New Mexico, his goal is to create self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony. He uses discarded modern by-products found locally, and integrates them into construction materials that can be used to build a sustainable home.

Earthships can be custom built or purchased, just like typical real estate through an online network of individual sellers. These homes have been built worldwide and varying environments, highlighting the versatility of this concept.

Earthship Biotecture is described as:

Earthship n. 1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.
Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture.
To specifically design and build homes that…

• Heat and cool themselves naturally via solar/thermal dynamics.
• Collect their own power from the sun and wind.
• Harvest their own water from rain and snow melt.
• Contain and treat their own sewage on site.
• Produce a significant amount of food.
• Are constructed using the byproducts of modern society like cans, bottles and tires.

Highlights of Earthship homes include:

• 100% solar with battery backup that provides power for up to two weeks without a drop of sun.
• Maintains 70F internal temperature w/o any heating or cooling system whatsoever (solar gain and passive geothermal)
• Catchwater and cistern – requires 9 inches of rainfall per YEAR to provide adequate water for home use
• Massive room for indoor plants (grow bananas in Alaska), as well as greywater and blackwater for large outdoor gardens.
• Costs less and lasts longer than traditional housing

Find out more about this revolutionary building concept at Earthship.com

People have become more and more aware of the fact that we can’t keep wasting all the natural resources of Mother Earth because in the end they will be gone, so we must start looking for some other materials to use or, even better, to start re-using and recycling the ones we already have. This is how a few open-minded people started a “green project” called Earthship. This project promotes the building of eco homes of of recycled materials, especially empty plastic bottles and old car tyres. These make very good building materials, as they are sound proof and also temperature insulating.

Used car tyres are filled with earth and then used as building materials, being the “bricks” used in building the foundation and walls of these eco homes. And, of course, you cannot connect to the normal electricity supplies if you have an eco home, so you’d better use solar panels or wind energy instead.The project was designed by Earthship Biotecture in Taos, New Mexico, USA, nut now you can find these homes all over the world.

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POND BUILDING TIPS

Tips on Designing and Lining a Pond

POND BUILDING

Dr. Jim Rogers

As both an internationally recognized expert on waste management and a consultant on pond construction, Dr. Jim Rogers has had plenty of experience building and lining ponds. He offers the following general advice on pond building, but points out that each situation calls for its own plan.

• If you need a liner, use clay when it's available nearby, because the transportation will be relatively inexpensive.
• Clay should be placed and compacted into a layer at least 12 inches thick for a pond up to 10 feet deep. Increase this thickness by 1 inch for each foot of water over 10 feet.
• Don't be concerned if you see surface cracks along a dry pond edge; they will come together again when wet. Cracks are a sign of a clay bottom.
• Rogers has used four kinds of synthetic liners, each with pros and cons. The two he has used most often are HDPE and PVC. His favorite, HDPE, is resistant to ultraviolet light and more durable against animal hooves than PVC, which must be covered where exposed to sunlight. HDPE's disadvantage is that it must be welded using specialized equipment. Both types should be put down wrinkly, not smooth, because adding cold water will draw them tight, compromising the anchoring system.
• Synthetic liners should be placed in a cutoff trench around the pond's edge, with soil covering the liner and filling the trench. Rogers recommends that these trenches be two feet deep.
• Be careful how deeply you dig. Some ponds that hold water efficiently begin to leak when you dig through their clay bottoms, trying to make them deeper.
• Be careful of slope. “I never recommend a slope with less than 2 feet of horizontal run for each foot of vertical drop,” Rogers says. “A lined pond with steep sides is a hazard to children and wildlife.”
• Be mindful of depth. “In cold areas like the Panhandle, make sure there’s water at least 5 to 6 feet deep for thermal protection for fish, and shallow areas productive (with rooted vegetation) for wildlife,” Rogers say

An Off the Grid Experience

robert { 05.18.12 at 11:29 am }

I just simply brought in a manufactured home, put it on pylons/pedestals (poles driven into the ground/concrete.)
This way I didn’t have to deal with all the drama to pour a pad for which is considered a permanent installation, and have to pay significantly greater property taxes!
Had a livable home in days instead of months or years.
I found my dream property had come up for sale a year later, so I bought it, as water was a serious problem, rain water was a joke, according to a drilling co, a well was totally impractical, as the water table was below 1500′ and the drilling itself would be a challenge that would be very time consuming, and very costly, and to date, only one well had been drilled to the water table in the region, and it was for a government facility.
So, water had to be shipped in monthly from 30 miles away, and made things like bathing an issue. So I wasted no time in picking it up, installed the new base at my chosen location, and installed the septic tank (septic tank is required by law to prevent contamination of surface water that could make it into the water table, and spreading things like E.coli). then in one day, I cut out the base and had the manufactured home split, driven to new site, and all set up in one day. My wife left for work in one location and came home from work that evening to another location, she called her instant background change.
As for power, we run off of solar and hydro, and wind is , well, mainly over kill, but it just has that feel. and a generator as back up.
There are many ways to go off grid, but It requires careful planning and understanding your needs, then adapting the two.
And the technology (“primitive” and modern) exists to retrofit you into a comfortable off grid living.
But like with any real-estate, as the saying goes, location is everything.

STUFF! STUFF! STUFF!

Here's is the OverFlow of interesting things we can do / research as a community.

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OTHER FOLKS INTERESTED
Okay Guys, I'm putting this here so I can find it later. It's a link to folks who are in process like us yet further along. Haven't made contact, not ready yet. Along with desire is practicality......location, funding, what does contribution in kind look like, stuff we are thinking about and wanting to vision.
As discussed VISION is first step to even know where we fit or if we fit. No need to keep re-inventing the wheel IF there are like minded folk to flow with. Is that what we are evolving to anyway??????? community minded folk

I want to check these folks out in this community in Georgia.  I am saving it here
Enota Georgia

Ecovillage forming in Tennessee

Texas EcoCommunity