From a “that’s nuts!” idea over a century ago, there’s a current wave of interest in self-sustaining homes built on the ground in out of nowhere places. The recent interest is out of concern with climate change, the lockdowns over the past years, or the passionate idea of living in a sustainable, entirely environmentally friendly home.
More people are trading conventional homes and hefty household bills (not to mention noisy neighbors) for a more sustainable, energy-efficient dwelling. And the best, currently the most popular answer, is an Earthship: a comfortable, cozy living space made of 100% eco-home materials.
The Earthship Biotecture concept is nothing new, although you might believe it is. The first Earthship was built back in the 1970s.
Earthship Biotecture is a brainchild by Architect Michael Reynolds, who first introduced the concept in 1971. He built the first Earthship the same year in Taos, New Mexico using beer and soda cans, tires, and empty glass bottles.
The unfortunate thing was that the idea of Earthship construction was somewhat “nuts” decades ago. Who builds a house using garbage? Who builds homes that don’t have or need utilities? But apparently, the man behind the concept knew something that the world didn’t know then.
Every Earthship addresses six basic needs: heating and cooling, solar and electricity, water harvesting, contained sewage treatment, building with natural and recycled materials, and food production.
According to the Earthship Biotecture group, 30% of all energy that is produced globally is used for heating and cooling structures. With that in mind, Earthships are built to maintain a comfortable temperature in any climate, following the principle of surrounding each living space with a mass on three sides. There are two basic designs—the classic Earthship suitable for most climates and then a tropically-designed shelter.
More details of this Martin and Zoe Earthship home in Australia from AWM:
Martin and Zoe really liked Reynolds’s ideas, so they decided to create their own Earthship home in Australia. Michael even traveled to Taos, New Mexico, to study under Reynolds. He became a student of Reynolds’s Earthship Biotecture and studied how to create an Earthship home of his own. When he finished his studies and returned home to Australia, Martin and Zoe got to work creating their own version of Reynolds’s invention.
Martin and Zoe created a small Earthship home. Their home is considered a tiny home since it is only 750 square feet in size. Nevertheless, the home is extremely efficient. It generates power from solar panels and has the ability to collect water from the natural environment around the house. The home also maintains constant temperatures, includes equipment to recycle greywater, and also has space to grow food for the couple to consume.
The couple found help from a group of volunteers. These people came out to the Australian property to help the couple build their Earthship home from the ground up. The couple also decided to create their home after obtaining permission from the local council’s approval procedure. This was no easy feat, given that they were trying to create a unique home on their property.
The YouTube video attracted millions of people and earned 5.4 million views. The video was liked more than one hundred thousand times and received more than three thousand four hundred comments since it was uploaded four years ago in 2018.
It’s a lifestyle that’s becoming increasingly appealing to a growing number of Americans after years of lockdowns. A global survey found that 60% of consumers were interested in creating more sustainable choices following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Watch the video below for more details:
Source: AWM
