Why the Earthship design makes sense:
Ok, you're building with recycled materials, that's great, but why tires, bottles, and cans?
- Tires: As Mike (Michael Reynolds, the inventor) would say, if you put yourself in the role of an alien coming to this planet for the first time, you would assume tires are indigenous to the planet, that they grow here. They're EVERYWHERE, even in remote isolated 3rd world (major world as Mike calls them since they constitute 80% of the population), they can even be found at the bottom of the ocean, perfectly preserved. Currently there are billions of tires and the number keeps growing, it's such a problem that you have to pay to get rid of old tires and some places PAY YOU to take old tires off their hands! Ok, so you get the point, there's too many tires, we have to get rid of them somehow, and burning them is not the solution, although some countries seem to think this is a good idea. What are the benefits of the Earthship?
-> 1st Benefit, Thermal Mass: first off, what is this? It's simply a dense material that contains a lot of mass and is therefore capable of naturally absorbing and storing heat. Examples include packed dirt, adobe, tile, stone, and concrete. This is a term you may be familiar with if you work in the building industry, many know that concrete has a high thermal mass and therefore assume if you have concrete in your building, that's a good thing. However, the majority of concrete buildings (many new, highly expensive buildings) use concrete on the exterior of the wall and then build an interior wood stud wall with batt insulation. In this case the concrete provides a time delay before the heat is transferred into or out of the interior space, but preventing heat transfer is a job better suited for insulation, NOT thermal mass, especially with a material that has such a high embodied energy (Cement must be heated to a very high temperature, so it takes a lot of energy to create). Thermal mass is better suited to store heat (energy) inside a building, and the insulating barrier should be placed exterior of the mass to keep it inside. It works like this: During the hot days, the sun enters in through glass and is absorbed into the mass in the walls and ground. Heat always flows from hot to cold, so at night as the space begins to cool down, heat automatically transfers from the thermal mass in the walls and floor to the space. By the end of the night, the walls have cooled down and are ready to absorb heat the next day, helping keep the space at a uniform temperature all day long without the use of man made energy.
-> What about Cooling? Cooling the space on hot days can be done using a combination of a skylight near the windows and a corrugated tube that brings air into the other side of the building after it has traveled through the earth for 30+ feet while being cooled down by the surrounding earth. This creates a convection current where the hot air exiting from the skylight on one side of the building creates negative pressure that draws in cold air low on the other side of the building. This is a passive cooling system that has been around for centuries, but that modern buildings tend to ignore in favor of more modern, less energy efficient, air conditioning systems.
- > What about glass? Glass is a poor insulator, if it is simply added in abundance everywhere, as most modern buildings tend to do, it leads to an excessive waste of energy as the air conditioning system has to make up for the excessive heat gains through the glass during the day and the excessive heat loss through the glass at night. The key is to use glass efficiently, by placing it where it helps the building absorb the most amount of heat possible on the winter solstice when the sun is at it's lowest point and the days are coldest. This means placing it at an angle near perpendicular to the sun on the winter solstice so that the sun can keep the building warm year round. In colder climates, adding an additional buffer zone, a 5' corridor in between two layers of glass, allows heat to be absorbed in the building, but prevents the heat from escaping through the glass since there is a great insulator (large air space, air is a great insulator since it is not dense). This buffer is also a great place to grow plants, which I'll describe further in the botanical cell & water reclamation portion below. Another key to glass placement is the direction it faces, again, you want it to face the sun at its high point on the winter solstice, this is to the south in the northern hemisphere and to the north in the southern hemisphere. The last key is the amount of glass, you want just enough to keep the building warm during the coldest day of the year, any additional glass will add unnecessary cost and will make the space uncomfortably warm during the hotter days of the year. Adding glass to any other exposures than what is mentioned above should be done as minimal as possible since they will not help much with solar heat gain and will add to thermal loss and create a much colder, uncomfortable space.
- > Ok, earth packed tires can absorb a lot of heat, but aren't they also a good conductor (poor insulator) and therefore that heat will be lost?: Good point! In order to retain the solar heat gain, a thermal wrap is applied to the exterior of the tire wall. In addition all of the walls, except for the glass wall, are buried into the earth, below the frozen layer. The earth stays at a pretty constant temperature so burying he building helps keep it at a more uniform temperature throughout the year.
- > Second Benefit of Tires, Structural Stability: Compacted tires have the ability to withstand very large compression force and therefore make great load bearing walls. To withstand the lateral force of the earth on the buried walls, each layer of tires is stepped inward to help distribute the load more uniformly and in a downward direction that the tires can easily withstand. The width of a tire wall is a minimum of 2'-6", this is greater than the required width of footings under load bearing walls, hence the tire wall also functions as a footing. In addition, since the tires are only held in place with friction, during earthquakes, they are free to move around to an extent. This is a good thing, larger buildings, bridges, and any continuous material will crack if there is not a point where it has the ability to move along with the earth during an earthquake. For this reason, expansion joints are added to floors, walls, roofs, pipes, ducts, etc to prevent this cracking during earthquakes, these expansion joints are very costly, the fact that tire walls have these expansion joints build into the system in between each tire is another benefit. Earthships have withstood earthquakes in many parts of the world already. In order to withstand lateral and tension forces on the tire wall from the roof or other sources, either a wood truss, Viaga, or rebar & concrete roof is used. To attach the roof to the tire walls, rebar staples are first attached to the tires with concrete and then a concrete bond beam attaches the rebar staples to the roof.
- > You just said concrete has a high embodied energy, yet it's used in Earthships?? Yes, but only to the extend necessary. There are alternatives, but where cost and time is an issue and other materials aren't available, concrete is a simple solution. For areas where concrete isn't necessary for structural purposes, adobe can be used. An alternative for concrete used for for walls is a composite hemp material that has recently been invented or straw bales. The Earthship is a constantly evolving building, it is not perfect, as nothing is. It strives to become more and more earth friendly as time goes on, more people get involved and new methods for building are discovered. The idea is to use as little concrete as possible, which leads us to the next topic.
- > Why use glass bottles and aluminum cans?: the answer to the glass bottle question is easy, to recycle and to provide a beautiful light source using a free material. Also to make me feel less guilty for drinking beer. A mosaic type of light source is created that looks similar to a stained glass wall. This is done by taking two glass bottles of the same size, cutting off the tops, and taping them together. These "glass bricks" are then placed in whatever cool pattern you wish, but never touching. The space in between the bottles acts as the support matrix and bears all the weight, no load is supported by the glass or aluminum cans. Aluminum cans are usually used solely to take up space so less concrete or adobe is required. For tire pack-out, i.e. filling in the gaps between tires to make flat walls, aluminum cans glass, bottles, or virtually any trash can be used. Also for interior concrete or adobe walls, cans or bottles can be used. If the can placement is done well, they can be left exposed, if not, they can easily be covered up. Aluminum cans can also be used for concrete forms, i.e. to create an area to poor concrete, for a column for example, you can create a hollow circle of aluminum cans with Adobe or concrete in between the cans. This is done solely to provide a casing for the concrete poor. The concrete is poored into the center of this form and hence a concrete, load bearing, column is created.
How is the Global Model Earthship Capable of Functioning like a modern day home without being connected to the grid in any shape or form?:
- > Rainwater Collection:
One of my favorite parts of the Earthship, everyone knows the saying "water is one of our most precious resources." You see it everywhere you go, little reminders in hotel rooms, yet those same hotels take the free clean water provided by Mother Nature and flush it right down the drain. From there large amounts of resources are required to transport this seemingly useless resource to its final resting place. Instead of treating rainwater like some unwanted foreign object to be discarded at once, the roof of an Earthship is used to collect and funnel rainwater to cisterns. Pure rainwater is devoid of minerals and is therefore not readily drinkable. As the water makes it's way to the cistern, it passes through gravel and silt which function as a filter as well as a way to enrich the water with the necessary minerals we need to thrive. This is working with nature, instead of against it.
- > Water is Used at least FOUR Times:
After exiting the cistern, water is gravity fed to the pump. From the pump the water travels to its first point of use, drinking water, a sink, or a shower. This water then drains into a greywater botanical cell located inside the building. The gravel, dirt, and plants in this cell filter the water as it passes through. The water also feeds the plants and provides them with nutrients; tropical plants such as banana trees and all other sorts of plants can be grown here. Next the water is pumped up to flush a toilet. The water then passes through a septic tank where an anaerobic process breaks down the solids and the water then travels to a black water botanical cell exterior of the building where the plants filter the water as they are fed by it. Edible plants can also be grown in this cell as long as they don't grow fruit/vegetables underground and aren't of the leafy variety. In this way water is used in such a way that enough water can be collected for a family to live on, even in some of the dryest environments such as Taos, New Mexico; this is synergy at its finest! No water or sewage connection necessary, this saves large amounts of resources as well as the infrastructure that would otherwise be necessary.
How can one have the conveniences of modern day life: refrigeration, lights, pressurized water, hot water, charging electronics, without being connected to the electrical grid and relying on a nuclear plant or fossil fuels? The first step is reducing consumption, is a TV really necessary? It's detrimental to your health, just get rid of it, but if you can't do without this "luxury," get the most energy efficient TV you can find. This goes for all electronics, an energy efficient DC powered refrigerator is important, as are LED lights.
The next step is solar, wind, and water power. Solar panel technology has been greatly improved over the last couple of decades to the point where you can buy panels for less than $1/watt. In addition they last for more than 20-30 years with little or no maintenance, making them the preferred method for off-grid energy generation. Coupled with a solar hot water system, a whole house can easily be supplied with energy throughout the year. Hydro-Electric power should be utilized where available. Vertical turbines are best for wind since they can harness wind from any direction; however the technology for these machines is still not perfected, they still require a good amount of maintenance and can be very costly. On the other hand, the benefit of turbines is they can be used to generate energy when there is no sun. In some climates this may be especially useful or even necessary.
- > Cost & Humanitarian Efforts:
Ok fine, I've convinced you that Earthships are a great idea, at least the global model with modern amenities, but what about cost? $400,000 is a huge sum of money not available to the common person, let alone those in the major world. The key here is the need to reduce the amount of desires in order to live in a simple, sustainable way to have a truly affordable house for almost everyone. When a Tsunami struck Haiti, it whipped out all the tent villages that had been created. When the Earthship crew went to help find a solution, the simple survival Earthship model was born. For $7,000 a sustainable home was created, complete with living quarters, a shower, a toilet, and a cistern, in 14 days! For most Americans, the simple survival is less than what they desire in a living space, but to the Hatians, this was a living space that not only had the capabilities of withstanding Tsunami's, but also had unheard of amenities such as a bucket flush toilet and a private bucket shower that drains. There was a huge line to use the toilet as soon as it was done! The living quarters also provided an environment much more comfortable than they were used to and the separate structures created an inner courtyard that was a lovely place to relax. All for $7,000, this was a breakthrough. In the States, this same building design costs about $14,000, still a great deal. The problem with building in the states is that same building codes out in place to improve our living conditions prevent progress. Innovation cannot happen when too many restrictions are put in place. It's like telling an artist to make a masterpiece, then telling them exactly what you want the finished product to look like, this stiffens creativity. So the question remains, can an Earthship be created in the states that meets current code and doesn't put the owner under significant financial hardship? The answer is yes, but only in certain states and with a significant amount of manual labor on the owners part, or assistance from a network of similar minded individuals willing to lend a helping hand. At the Earthship headquarters in Taos , New. Mexico, they have a plot of land where they can build without meeting code, here a simple survival can be built. For the average person , your best bet is build in one of the existing Earthship communities in New Mexico, Colorado, or one of the other locations. The material cost of a simple Earthship that meets code would likely be around $30,000-$100,0000, depending on the climate you want to build in and the amenities you want to have. Is this incredibly cheap? No. Is it one of the most affordable off-grid autonomous houses that you build with our current laws? Yes, plus you'll be saving a lot of money by not paying any utility bills and will help save the world.
vaporwave
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
pixelskylines