The Earth Ship has landed

Or it should be landing. I am not talking about aliens from outer space. And…I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE! I am talking about a house that is eco-friendly, economical and self-sufficient, a.k.a. Earthships. Although New Mexico is famous for its alien sightings, it is also the leader in eco-friendly Earthships. In Taos, New Mexico, specifically, there are housing developments that are entirely comprised of Earthships.

Let me first hit you with some digits. You can build a 7,000 square foot Earthship for $90.00 per square foot. That’s a 5 bedroom home for $630,000. A very luxurious, full of frills and chills home for a big family. Maybe you do not need 7,000 square feet; you only need 2,800 square feet. You can do that, too. Earthships cost between $20.00 to $90.00 per square foot and range in size from 600 to 10,000 square feet.

Another plus: Earthships are completely off the grid. You have no utilities, making your biggest expense meat and dairy products.

The Setup

All exterior walls, except the south facing wall, are constructed with dirt-filled tires. Then, you “berm” up the north, east and west walls, essentially piling dirt that you excavate out of the hole (transplanting dirt from floor to outside and build up on outer walls). The south wall is floor to ceiling windows. They are at an angle that is determined by the latitude line you are building on, in order to maximize sunlight for heat and growth of the internal garden that runs the length of this wall. This front wall acts as the main hallway for the home, and all rooms are built off of this. If you’re really into the self-sustainable lifestyle, then you would also have your bathroom on this front wall with a self-composting solar toilet and a kitchen with a solar oven. These features cut down on heating and cooling costs, as well as help produce and maintain fresh fruits and vegetables. The garden also preserves fresh air inside. (I won’t go into how – we all took science in school.) Internal load-bearing walls are also constructed out of the dirt filled tire. Some split-level Earthships even have a central internal courtyard large enough for a tree. If the thought of having an internal garden or a real tree in your house frightens you because of the idea of bugs in your house, then you can simply screen in these areas.

There are more design features that help cut your cost of living, such as solar panels and fresh water reservoirs. You can incorporate any of these features into your next home or your current home to save money…or, to make money. Imagine building a 2,800 square foot home for only $154,00 and then selling it for $279,000, which is about what you would pay for a new home built traditionally in today’s market. You just doubled your money. Perhaps if you like to wear $245.00 Seven Jeans, $90.00 Hugo Boss T-Shirts, $290.00 Kenneth Cole shoes and drive a $65,000 gas guzzling SUV, then think of how much easier it would be to afford those things if you lived in a home that cost you comparatively nothing.

An alternative to dirt-filled tires would be the use of cinder blocks. It’s an easier and less time consuming option. If you are going the cinder block route, then your foundation and pad are tied into the walls with re-bar, then you fill the cinder blocks with concrete as you build up the walls. This gives the walls more thermal mass for containing heat and cool air inside. It will also add to the structural integrity of the home. Some people have incorporated piping into the floor and walls, which helps with heating by cycling sun-warmed water through these pipes during the winter. Skylights are another feature that helps with lighting, heating and venting.

Earthships are almost indestructible. You don’t have to worry about tornadoes, and the power outage we had last year would not have affected you in an Earthship.

Earthships and 2008

So why have you never heard of Earthships? Well, the biggest drawback to Earthships is zoning and ordinances set in place by the city and state. The earth-filled tire option may be impossible due to this, so the cinder blocks are the best bet until zoning laws become a little more earth-friendly. Although, consumerism may keep that from ever happening, some of us still hope.

There are now designs for Earthship apartment complexes. Picture South Tulsa built entirely of Earthships rather than the Cookie-Cutter-Shake-and-Bake houses that keep vigorously sprouting. Of course there are some down sides to Earthships. If more Earthships were being built, then more cities would struggle financially since people wouldn’t be spending as much on assorted utilities. But this would cut down on the assorted pollutions created by these utilities, and that’s the point of an Earthship – to cut expenses and increase the longevity of you and yours and the natural resources of the world.

I have simply scratched the surface with this information, but if you are interested, contact Solar Survival Architecture in Taos, New Mexico for more insight into smart living.

By Nathan Caleb Camerer