Earthships: Truly Sustainable Housing

[StormInateacup]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ENIhmDskmY

Radically sustainable buildings made with recycled materials

". . . the Earthship is the epitome of sustainable design and construction. No part of sustainable living has been ignored in this ingenious building."

Earthships can be built in any part of the world, in any climate and still provide
electricity, potable water, contained sewage treatment and sustainable food production.

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And they look like amazingly cheap, pleasant places in which to live as well.

Naturally local govts are doing their level best to prevent people being allowed to build them with the imposition of naff by-laws which put up unnecessary barriers . Gotta keep0 those property developer bribes coming in, don't they

But...wow....take a look at the technology and expertise available and the comfort one can achieve by using tyres, aluminium cans, elbow grease and dirt to build a sustainable home.

[rscott]

Before my accident, I had planned on building a modern version of a sod house "soddy" built into the southern side of a Dakota butte, with lots of glazing. Old soddy's were dark because of the scarcity of glass but the newer ones resemble your photo.

There are some wonderful soddy's both new and old in the area, when I feel like being abused by PhotoFuckit or Fluckr again I'll post some photos.

I think my Nikon down-loader might have a client photo sight easier to use, I'll check it out.......

[StormInateacup]

I've helped mates build both mud brick (soddy?) houses and hay bale ones. I just really like the look of these places and it seems to me that they're less labour intensive to build than the mud brick options (wow they are back breakers to get up...and bloody hard on your hands making those bricks too.) and far less costly than the hay bale option.

I'm looking into these things further. I've already phoned a mate who owns a garage to see what kind of options I might have to source cheap/free old tyres through him.

[rscott]

Polyurethane foam, local material and a system called Dryvit (a skin of fiberglass and mortar) make some bizarre free form housing even Frank Loyd Wright would approve of.
They can be formed in a day and are equally efficient in the arctic tundra, the desert or jungle.
Although petroleum based, what better place to use indestructible plastic - in homes instead of in landfills. Using petroleum to build homes makes more sense than burning it.

Mud bricks are used for "adobe", soddy's use strips of sod 18-24 inches wide and 4-6 inches thick.