SAVE A LANDFILL... BUILD AN EARTHSHIP!

These amazing structures are truly unique in their own right.

We invite you to be inspired by our history making adventure...

JOIN THE EARTHSHIP MOVEMENT!!

trivia

Want to learn how an

Earthship is built?

Come and join in, get

your hands dirty, and

contribute to a history-

making Tucson event:

•Hands-on
learning and fun

• Workshops

• Internships

 <  e a r t h s h i p  t r i v i a  >

What (On Earth) is an Earthship?

Simply defined, an Earthship is a sustainable, passive solar home

made of natural and recycled materials. The design and

construction concept of the Earthship was originated by Michael

Reynolds of Earthship Biotecture in Taos, NM, with the visionary

intent for these homes to be autonomous and everlasting while

characteristically aligning with the environment rather than

deteriorating it.

The Earthship home is generally made of earth-filled tires,

utilizing the concept of thermal mass construction to naturally

regulate and stabilize indoor temperature, as well as to provide

a sturdy yet flexible shell. The building site may be excavated

to the extent that the structure is then bermed into a slope or

hillside to add more thermal mass functionality. Windows are

concentrated on the sunny side of the home, allowing for the best

admittance of light and heat,  especially during the colder months

of the year. The "systems" that sustain the Earthship also offer an

independence from the common public utility “grid," by  

minimizing reliance on it through the focused use of renewable

energy like solar and wind as well as integrated water and

natural ventilation.

What may seem to be somewhat crude in design, the Earthship is

actually remarkably beautiful in its final form - both inside and out.

Earthships now exist in many shapes and sizes in almost every

state in North America and all over the world.

How to Build an Earthship

Another component to Reynolds’ vision was his desire to create

a home that anyone could build without having any specialized

construction skills, and that would be affordable to both build and

inhabit because of its truly environmentally sensible form.

The Earthship accomplishes these goals by making use of a

 variety of recycled materials that we use and dispose of every

        day - by-products that would otherwise collect in a landfill.

          The primary material  utilized as a structural component

          of the Earthship is  the typical automobile tire which is

           filled with compacted earth to form a modular, thermal

          mass “brick” encased in steel-belted rubber. Along with

     earth-filled recycled tires, the Earthship also makes use of  

other common recyclable items like glass bottles and aluminum

cans which serve mostly as decorative wall components that

create an intriguing artistic design statement.

The Systems

The Earthship was designed as a structure that would exist in

harmony with its environment and at the same time be

independent of the constraints that centralized public utilities

impose upon most modern day shelters. Earthships actually

create their own utilities and, when married with the thermal

mass construction, offer completely sustainable self-sufficiency.

Water/Plumbing: Known more popularly as water harvesting,

Earthships utilize this method of collecting water from the

environment, where rain or snow melt is channeled from the roof

through a filtering device and into a cistern, or tank. This "grey

water" is sent through multiple levels of filtering and put to many

valuable uses within the Earthship environment, from providing

humidity and fresh oxygen via elaborate indoor gardens to

flushing toilets and feeding outdoor landscaping. Harvesting is

not the sole means of water supply, however. Earthships can,

and many times, must have city-supplied water for backup and

for potable drinking water.

More Earthship Water Systems Info…

Electricity: An Earthship is designed to generate and store

energy from solar or wind sources, or a combination of both.

The practice of collecting and storing solar energy is known as

passive solar design, which aims to maintain interior thermal

comfort throughout the sun’s daily and annual cycles, and take

advantage of the natural heating and day-lighting the sun

provides. Solar energy collection systems within an Earthship

are also often combined with windmills, natural gas generators

or electricity provided by an integrated public-grid source.

A public grid system can be useful for backup as well as a means

of selling accumulated solar energy back to the grid – actually

earning money from utility companies rather than paying them

for it….a whole new meaning for “green”!

More Earthship Electrical Systems Info…

Climate: Thermal mass makes it possible to maintain the

Earthship's interior temperature without great fluctuation by

“storing” the temperature within the materials that make up the

building envelope. This actually renders the Earthship itself as

a "battery" of sorts, with its dense mass retaining and radiating

the heat of the sun or the cool of the earth surrounding it.

Enhanced heating is provided by large, glass-sheet windows

usually located solely on the south side of the structure (or north

side in the southern hemisphere),

optimizing seasonal/regional sun

exposure. Insulative materials can

also be added to the exterior to

supplement the thermal mass

and further ensure the desired

interior climate.  

More Earthship Climate

Systems Info…

The Greater World

Community

Over time, Reynolds created a

community of Earthships in Taos,

New Mexico, called the Greater World Community, which

became a legal housing development in 1998. With nearly 200

residents, this subdivision of Earthship homes was designed as a

sustainable community that, phased to continue development,

can grow and flourish independently. Within this community,

each Earthship produces its own energy, harvests its own water,

contains and treats its own sewage, manufactures bio-fuels and,

to a great extent, grows its own food.

More Greater World Community Info…

  •Earthships are constructed of mostly recycled materials like

           automobile tires, glass bottles and aluminum soda cans.

•Earthships catch water from the sky and re-use it up to four

times to flush toilets and feed indoor gardens and outdoor

landscaping.

•Water is heated by solar or natural gas sources, but public water
sources can be tapped for backup and for potable drinking water.

•Earthships contain and treat all household sewage in indoor and outdoor botanical cells that feed food gardens and outdoor landscaping.

•Earthship toilets flush with filtered grey water.

•Indoor “wetlands” provide balanced humidity and a constant supply

of fresh air.

•Electricity can be produced naturally from solar and wind, or combined with other sources such as gas-powered generators or public-grid provided power.

•Earthships use the sun and thermal mass construction to maintain
comfortable temperatures year-round in any climate.

      — Information obtained from Earthship Biotecture

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See your recycling efforts in action!

Please help us out by donating

*UNCRUSHED BEVERAGE CANS*

(we have all of glass bottles needed)

~ ~ ~

Contact us and we will make

arrangements to pick up

your recyclable donations.

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DONATE YOUR RECYCLABLES!

For more information, contact James Wilson

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